The parents of Australian Test debutant Beau Webster have gone viral ahead of the SCG Test.

In desperate need of a house-sitter before they made a mad dash to Sydney to watch their son, Tina and Rod Webster engaged a friend to post a Facebook message on the West Hobart Good Karma Network to help them in their search.

“Unlikely but is anyone available for some house sitting starting tonight, for 4-5 nights?” the message amusingly said.

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“Until at least Tuesday next week, possible a few more days after that. Would be looking after two dogs based in Mount Nelson.

“A friend’s son has been selected for the Australian cricket side!! So she’s off to Sydney at very short notice.”

Naturally, the message was picked up by cricket fans and quickly went viral on social media.

As for Tina and Rod, they headed to Sydney where they were proudly photographed alongside Beau after he was presented with his Baggy Green in the middle of the SCG.

Former Australian star Mark Waugh presented the 31-year-old with the prized item on Friday morning, with the big allrounder becoming Test player number 469.

Webster has averaged 57.1 in first-class cricket since March 2022, while also picking up 81 wickets at 31.7.

Last year, he became the first player since West Indian legend since Sir Garfield Sobers to score 900 runs and take 30 wickets in a Sheffield Shield season.

With India winning the toss and electing to bat, Webster started the match in third slip.

He replaced out-of-sorts allrounder Mitch Marsh in the Australian team, while India axed captain Rohit Sharma for the series decider against Australia.

Rohit’s absence means KL Rahul will return to opening, while Shubman Gill comes back into the side at No.3 for the fifth Test.

Indian quick Akash Deep is also out with a bad back, with seamer Prasidh Krishna to come into the side.

With Australia leading the series 2-1 and India needing a win to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Jasprit Bumrah walked out for the toss alongside Pat Cummins.

Under cloudy skies and after morning rain, Bumrah opted to bat first on a pitch Steve Smith has labelled the greenest he has ever seen in Sydney.

“Our captain has shown his leadership and opted to rest in this game,” a defiant Bumrah said.

“There is a lot of unity in this team, there is no selfishness.

“Whatever is in the team’s best interest, we are looking to do that.”

Mitchell Starc will play after having scans on his sore ribs after playing through the pain in Australia’s last-hour win in Melbourne on Monday.

A draw will be enough for Australia to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy since 2014, ensuring they have every Test trophy available to them.

But captain Pat Cummins has made clear he intends to play to win in Sydney, with good weather forecast for the opening three days.

“We’ve had three quiet days since Melbourne, all the boys have pulled up well,” Cummins said.

AUSTRALIA: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (capt), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.

INDIA: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.

The fifth Test begins on Friday, January 3 and is scheduled to run through to Tuesday, January 7.

Seven’s live and free coverage kicks off at 9.30am AEDT each day ahead of the first ball at 10.30am AEDT.

– With AAP