Australia captain Pat Cummins announced an unchanged playing XI for the New Year's Test against Pakistan on Tuesday (January 2). Cummins made the announcement while addressing the reporters during the pre-match media interaction.
The announcement has ruled out the possibility of Scott Boland replacing someone from the fast bowling cartel as Cummins mentioned that all three of them have pulled up well and are really fresh.
"Potentially. It'd be rare. Normally each summer there's something that pops up. But all three of us are really fresh.
"Even the way this summer is spread out a bit more, there's two Tests on, then a bit of a gap, then two Tests, then a bit of a gap, then New Zealand. We'll give it a chance. It's all gone pretty smoothly so far," Cummins was quoted as saying by Cricket.com.au.
Despite the series already in their kitty, the Aussie skipper is not willing to let Pakistan off the hook in the final Test and wants to register a clean sweep at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
"Now that the World Test Championship is there, every Test match is important. We've got a couple of points to make up from some over rates in England (during the Ashes). Every game has context and it’s a home Test match, every Test match you play is big. Everyone in Australia is even bigger," he added.
Australia's playing XI for Sydney Test:
Pat Cummins (c), Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner
Pakistan squad:
Shan Masood (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
