Teammate travis head

The Sydney Morning Herald: Nathan McSweeney, who is set to make his Australia debut against India in the first Test on Friday, is unaffected by the criticism after being named as Usman Khawaja's opening partner for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. The 25-year-old is confident of his abilities to perform against the challenging bowling lineup headed by premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, and Prasidh Krishna.

For McSweeney, the opening role will be a tough spot after batting at number three in domestic cricket but the youngster is ready for the task and faced the pace troika of captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood in the Australia nets here on Monday. “I think for me I know what works and I feel very capable to go and do the job and I’m batting the best I ever have, I feel. Hopefully, I can go out there and execute that on Friday.

“It (criticism) happened quite quickly. You’re playing a bit of Big Bash, but there’s definitely more talk around playing for your country, as there should be, it’s what you wanted to do since you were a kid. Being able to lean on the guys who have experienced it, it doesn’t change the way I prepare or try and go out and play," McSweeney told The Sydney Morning Herald.