Pat Cummins drops hint about Aussie Test opener for India series in major Travis Head call

Australia's Test cricket captain Pat Cummins has emphatically ruled out two batters to open alongside Usman Khawaja in the upcoming series against India, following Steve Smith's imminent move back to No.4. News of Cameron Green's back injury - which is set to rule the all-rounder out of action for the next six months - has prompted Aussie selectors into a reshuffle of the batting order for the five-Test series against India that gets underway at Perth's Optus Stadium on November 22.

Green admitted this week he was under consideration to open the batting until being officially ruled out of the series, leaving a number of others in contention to partner Khawaja at the top of the order. Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh are two names from within the squad who have been mentioned as possible candidates, with Head shining at opener in the absence of David Warner during last year's Test series in India.

Marsh has also proven his qualities batting towards the top of the order for Australia, albeit in white-ball cricket for the national ODI and T20 sides. But Test skipper Cummins has categorically shut down suggestions Head or Marsh will be moved out of their favoured Test spots in the middle order, revealing Aussie selectors have "never" seriously considered either batter for a role as opener against India.

“No. Trav (Head) or Mitch (Marsh) were never going to open this summer,” Cummins said. “I woke up a few times to see headlines saying that was going to be the case, and I was like, ‘that’s very wrong.’ Because no way. Trav and Mitchy have probably won us more games than anyone else batting at five and six so I was very reluctant to move them.”

Cummins' comments narrow down the amount of candidates to partner Khawaja at the top of the order, with Cameron Bancroft and fringe Test star Marcus Harris among the top contenders. Bancroft has been the leading run-scorer in the Sheffield Shield for the past two seasons and was unlucky to miss out on succeeding Warner when he retired from Test cricket in January.

Victoria opener Harris has also been a consistent performer at Shield level and was part of Australia's Ashes squad last year but like Bancroft, was also overlooked as Warner's replacement. Teenage batting prodigy Sam Konnstas has also rocketed into Test calculations on the back of twin centuries for NSW in the one Shield match - the 19-year-old becoming the youngest batter since Ricky Ponting to achieve the feat.

Pat Cummins says importance of batting order 'overstated'

But while debate swirls around which batter will be handed the Aussie Test opening spot, Cummins has revealed he and selectors will be simply looking for the next-best batter in the country - regardless of what position they normally occupy. The Aussie captain says it's a view he shares with coach Andrew McDonald and insisted the debate around the make-up of Australia's Test batting order has been "overstated" and that picking a specialist opener is not essential.

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“I’ve always, and I know Andrew (coach, Andrew McDonald) is the same, we don’t think the batting order is that big of a deal," Cummins said. “You are going to bat at some stage. I know some people have favourite positions, but really, I think the importance of a batting order can be overstated. So I wasn’t losing sleep over it put it that way.”

Cummins also revealed plans to wrap Marsh in cotton wool ahead of the India Test series, with the all-rounder unlikely to feature much with the ball for Western Australia in Sheffield Shield. Marsh has only bowled sparingly amid a series of niggles, including a hamstring injury that ended his IPL campaign early. But Marsh accepts that Green's injury means he'll be required to bowl against India and reduce the workload on pace trio Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

“It’s always the aim (for Marsh to bowl). Obviously he’s there for his batting but he always takes a key wicket whenever he’s called upon. I’m hoping he can bowl quite a bit this summer,” Cummins said. “The nature of his body and his ankle in particular is we don’t necessarily want him bowling heaps and heaps in the lead-up. We kind of want to save his overs for the games.

“I think it’s a bonus (to have an all-rounder). It’s not essential. A lot of my early Test matches here in Australia, we played without an all-rounder, or played without an all-rounder that bowled really. I think the job Nath (Lyon) has been able to do – he’s able to bowl 25 to 30 overs a day. That’s basically taken out one and a half bowling spots as it is.”