Former Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist has questioned whether the national selectors backtracked on their policy of picking the country’s six best batters for the Test team, arguing Josh Inglis deserves to make his debut at Perth Stadium against India.

On Sunday morning, Cricket Australia confirmed that Nathan McSweeney would open the batting alongside Usman Khawaja for this month’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy series opener, becoming the nation’s 467th men’s Test cricketer.

McSweeney had never opened the batting at first-class level before this week’s Australia A match against India A at the MCG, but chief selector George Bailey declared that the transition from No. 3 to opener wouldn’t be a massive adjustment for the 25-year-old.

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Inglis, who has cemented his spot in Australia’s white-ball teams, was named as the Test squad’s reserve batter after a blistering start to his Sheffield Shield campaign, blasting 297 runs at 99.00 in two matches.

However, Gilchrist argued that fellow West Australian Inglis should be considered among the country’s best six batters, calling for the 29-year-old to be presented his baggy green at Perth Stadium.

Last summer, Cameron Green was selected for the Test series against the West Indies ahead of a specialist opener because Bailey wanted the country’s six best batters in the starting XI, with Steve Smith reinventing himself as an opener to accommodate Green’s return.

“Inglis is in that squad as a reserve batter, which isn’t traditionally what Australia does in home conditions,” Gilchrist said on Fox Cricket.

“I think McSweeney will open … but do they stick with the policy they had last year where we want our six best batters in Australia playing in the top six?

“Josh Inglis at the moment is in the six best batters in Australia. Do they break away from that policy? I think they will.”

Asked to elaborate, Gilchrist continued: “If they stay with that policy, for me, I would say put (Inglis) at the top of the order. I don’t see it as too much of a challenge for him, he faces a new ball in white-ball cricket. I don’t see it as an issue.

“Nathan McSweeney’s a fine-looking player. They see that his game is a little bit more suitable for opening the batting, whereas Josh Inglis knows how to attack. Offence is probably his best form of defence, whereas McSweeney is perhaps the other way around, so he might be more suited to going in and facing the new ball.

“It will be interesting to see. I think (Inglis) is in the squad more as a genuine, all-round, versatile utility that can do a number of jobs.”

Inglis became Australia’s 30th men’s ODI captain on Sunday, leading his country for the third ODI against Pakistan at Perth Stadium.

The first Test between Australia and India gets underway in Perth on November 22.