Brisbane, November 12
Xavier Bartlett is stoked about seeing his teammate Nathan McSweeney make his debut for Australia in the upcoming Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against India.
Australia figured out its opening conundrum, at least for the series opener in Perth by naming McSweeney in the 13-player squad.
Even with the option to include experienced Marcus Harris or youngster Sam Konastas, the selectors decided to throw McSweeney in the mix after his performances for Australia A against India A.
With McSweeney all but set to open alongside Usman Khawaja, Bartlett is hopeful that McSweeney's maiden outing goes well in Test colours for Australia.
"To see his journey from when we were about 11 or 12 [years of age] to where he is now, making his Test debut, it's unbelievable - I'm absolutely stoked for him," Bartlett said of McSweeney as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
"He's worked so hard. I can't wait to see him go out there and hopefully go well for Australia," he added.
In the first unofficial Test against India A, the Australia A captain came to bat at number four and thrived against top-quality pacers.
He looked promising in the first innings with his steady 39 and followed it up brilliantly in the second innings by hammering an unbeaten 88 in 178 deliveries.
In the second unofficial Test, McSweeney was promoted to the top of the order but failed to replicate the success he had during the first outing. He could only post 14 and 25 across both innings to end the two unofficial Tests, which proved to be enough to make his case for selection.
The opening game for the blockbuster series between two Test giants, India and Australia, will be played in Perth from November 22.
India's squad for Border-Gavaskar Series: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Virat Kohli, Prasidh Krishna, Rishabh Pant (wk), KL Rahul, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Washington Sundar.
Australia squad for the first Test: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc.