National selectors have given their strongest hint yet that Nathan McSweeney is in the frame to open against India this summer after promoting the Australia A captain up the order for tomorrow’s four-day game against India A at the MCG.

McSweeney, fresh off the first ‘A’ clash in Mackay in which he was the standout batter, will take on the new ball alongside Marcus Harris. Sam Konstas, who opened in the first game, will go down to No.4 with Cameron Bancroft remaining at first drop.

Australia A XI for MCG tour match: Nathan McSweeney (c), Marcus Harris, Cameron Bancroft, Sam Konstas, Ollie Davies, Beau Webster, Jimmy Peirson (wk), Michael Neser, Nathan McAndrew, Scott Boland, Corey Rocchiccioli

“As flagged prior to the series the batting order was subject to adjustment throughout the two-match series,” selection chief George Bailey said.

“Nathan McSweeney will open the batting and Sam Konstas will move to number 4.

“Jimmy Peirson and Ollie Davies come into the team for Josh Philippe and Cooper Connolly, who has joined the ODI squad.

“This match also gives us the chance to deploy a fresh bowling group in Scott Boland, Nathan McAndrew, Michael Neser and Corey Rocchiccioli after the three-day turnaround between games.

“We will use the opportunity this week to gather our final information before the announcement of the Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Series following the Australia A match.”

The McSweeney-Harris-Bancroft-Konstas quartet have formed the likeliest candidates to win the vacant opening berth for the first Border Gavaskar Trophy Test against India.

McSweeney scored 39 and 88no in Mackay but has never opened before in the Sheffield Shield for either Queensland (his native state where he began his career) or South Australia (who he now captains and occupies the No.3 spot).

The 25-year-old has previously insisted his lack of opening experience is not necessarily a barrier to him doing the job against India’s vaunted bowling attack this summer.

The ‘A’ matches have been billed as a ‘bat-off’, though Test captain Pat Cummins said they were only part of the selection decision.

“I think it’s like a final bit of information. It’s never as clean cut as a bat-off,” Cummins said earlier this week.

“Some of these guys have only played a few games of Shield cricket and then you’ve got other guys who have played (for) over a decade.

“That last couple of weeks, is it really important? It’s got some importance, but it’s not going to guide 100 per cent of the decision. So it’s that final bit of decision.

“In some regards, there’s a lot of pressure on these last two games, which whether you like or not, it’s probably what you’re going to get in Test cricket anyway.

“So whoever does get picked, they’ve experienced as much pressure as they might get in their Test debut anyway. It means they’re pretty well placed.”

There remains some chance McSweeney could come into the side and bat at No.3, with Cummins indicating on Sunday it was possible Marnus Labuschagne could open.

Not since Victorian Richie Robinson opened in the first Test of the 1977 Ashes has an Australian been picked as an opener without having done so for their state.

In the years since, the likes of Aaron Finch and Geoff Marsh have been picked as openers for the Test team while batting in the middle order in the Shield.

But they at least had previous experience in the role earlier in their career.

Robinson, in contrast, had not opened in any of his 47 Shield matches before his Test debut, and only had limited experience doing so against counties earlier on the 1977 tour.

He opened on Test debut at Lord’s, made scores of 11 and 4, was dropped down to No.6 for the next Test and never picked again after his third.

A similar challenge could now await McSweeney, who has batted everywhere from No.3 to No.7 in his 33 first-class games.

But after scoring 541 runs in red-ball cricket at an average of 90.16 this summer, the right-hander believes he is ready.

“I think I am playing pretty well at the moment,” McSweeney said on Sunday, after top-scoring in both innings against India A in Mackay. 

“I am really confident in my game and I am progressing and playing some of the best innings I have played. 

“Hopefully I can continue to learn and get better. If the opportunity comes, I feel like I am ready. If it doesn’t, hopefully I can get the call one day.”

Meanwhile, India will play KL Rahul and Dhruv Jurel, in a bid to give them match time ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Rahul was dropped during India’s 3-0 loss to New Zealand at home, but could open in the first Test in Perth if Rohit Sharma misses for personal reasons.

“He’s obviously a world-class player, but he is someone we can hopefully get on top of pretty early and stay on top of him for most of the summer,” Boland said of Rahul.

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

Australia squad: TBC

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed

First Test: November 22-26: Perth Stadium, 1.20pm AEDT

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT