Australia’s selection chair George Bailey has revealed it was the need to “throw something different” at India’s dominant pace bowlers that led to the decision to install uncapped teenager Sam Konstas at the expense of Nathan McSweeney.

While providing no guarantee Konstas will make his debut at the MCG on Boxing Day against India, Bailey conceded Australia’s top three batters have shown a certain sameness in approach across the first three Tests and it was time to change it up.

India’s batting approach against the new ball is underscored by their strike rate of 59 against the first 20 deliveries faced across all Test innings this year, second only to England’s ‘Bazballers’ who struck at 66.

Their top three – openers K L Rahul (50), Yashasvi Jaiswal (55.9) and first-drop Shubman Gill (71.4) – all boast strike rates of 50 runs per 100 balls faced or above in this series even though the visitors have faced similar struggles at the start of their innings.

By contrast, Australia’s first trio Usman Khawaja (strike rate 46.3), McSweeney (33.9) and Marnus Labuschagne (33.2) have battled to get the scoreboard moving.

And if Australia’s top three can’t survive for extended periods in the face of India pace ace Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance, it seems the hope is at least to see pressure being exerted back upon them rather than the hosts’ batters simply battling for survival.

“You can say the way our top three have been playing has been reasonably similar and we’d like the ability to throw something different at India on the back of that,” Bailey said today.

“If you look more broadly, I don’t think necessarily the top six has quite functioned to the level that we need in this series as a whole.

“I think Sam’s method and style is different to Nathan’s … should we go down that path.

“And different again to Beau (Webster) and Josh (Inglis) as the other batting options within that (squad).

“We think they provide a different look and a different make-up of the eleven come Boxing Day.”

Bailey said there had been “preliminary chats” within the Australia team hierarchy about who might fill the now vacant opening role alongside Khawaja, and would not rule out shifting a middle-order batter to the top of the order.

As the only century makers for Australia in this NRMA Insurance Test series in their current roles at numbers four and five, Steve Smith and Travis Head seem unlikely to be subjected to a change.

Promoting Labuschagne from number three would only create the need to then fill a hole at first-drop, and allrounder Mitchell Marsh has struggled of late with four consecutive single-figure scores from as many Test innings.

Therefore should the selectors opt not to throw 19-year-old Konstas into his maiden Test against the firepower of Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, their other option might be to elevate auxiliary batter Josh Inglis to opener in what would be an equally brave call.

Inglis has not previously opened the batting at first-class level, but has filled the role for Australia in the ODI and T20 formats as well as for Western Australia and Perth Scorchers in domestic competitions.

Bailey confirmed that both Konstas and Inglis, as well as pace bowler Sean Abbott, will turn out for their respective BBL clubs in coming days before the Australia Test squad convenes in Melbourne at the start of next week.

Back-up allrounder Webster has also made several BBL appearances for Melbourne Stars in recent days, and even though he boasts a Sheffield Shield century as opener for Tasmania in 2017-18 he has not filled that role against a red ball in five years.

Rather it would appear his retention in the 15-man Test squad, as well as the recall of Abbott and fellow quick Jhye Richardson whose most recent Test appearance came in the 2021-22 Ashes, is due to the three-day turnaround between matches in Melbourne and Sydney.

Despite Australia losing the services of new-ball bowler Josh Hazlewood to a calf injury during the Brisbane Test, and Marsh sending down just two overs for the match, Bailey dismissed concerns about Marsh being able to fill another similar bowling breach.

However, the reason Australia have named an extended squad for the two remaining Tests is to cover all contingencies should more fitness issues arise due to back-to-back scheduling.

“I think if there had been some better weather in the back end of that (Brisbane) Test and a lot more overs in the second innings you would have seen Mitch (Marsh) with the ball a lot more,” Bailey said.

“Mitch was, I’d say, as well placed as he’d been for the entire series (to bowl).

“But looking forward … Melbourne-Sydney is clearly a quick turnaround.

“So we’re just conscious of that, and making sure we’ve got options between those two Tests.”

Bailey acknowledged it was a tough call to axe McSweeney after he had stepped up into the unfamiliar role of opener for his maiden series and returned 72 runs at an average of 14.4 from his six Test innings.

It means that since David Warner’s retirement after last summer’s final Test against Pakistan at the SCG, Australia have deployed non-specialist openers Smith and McSweeney alongside Khawaja for a combined yield of 243 runs from 14 innings at an average of 22.

But Bailey said the selection panel stood by the decision to elevate the South Australia captain who had not previously opened at first-class level until immediately prior to this summer’s first Test, and added his omission does not signal the end of his time as a Test player.

“In the lead-up to the (Test) series, he (McSweeney) was performing incredibly well,” Bailey said.

“The key around that was the fact his methodology and the way he plays, we believe, doesn’t change too much wherever he’s coming in the order.

“It hasn’t quite worked out as you’d like it to … but it’s still very much the start of his career.

“It’s a tough call, really hard decision for Nathan and one that we spent a lot of time deliberating over particularly after a small sample size of three Tests.

“Nathan was disappointed and the message to him was much the same as at the start of the series.

“We believe he’s got the ability and temperament to succeed at Test level.

“We’re confident he’ll be back.”

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

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

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

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, 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, Yash Dayal