Melbourne: Buoyed by a draw in the Brisbane Test thanks to rain gods and a valiant display by tail-enders, India remain unsure about the batting order for out-of-form skipper Rohit Sharma ahead of the fourth Test against Australia starting here on Thursday.

The Indian captain was the last player to come out for practice on Christmas Eve and there is speculation that he may open the innings in place of KL Rahul, who has performed well so far. If this happens, Rahul will again have to bat at number three. In such a situation, Shubman Gill will either have to come in the middle order or he will have to vacate the place for Dhruv Jurel. The five-match Test series is currently tied at 1–1.

Rohit was brought in as an opener in 2019 and since then he had stopped playing in the middle order but had to come down to number six to open the innings with the in-form Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a century in the first Test.

Rohit failed in the middle order and has scored only 19 runs in three innings so far. Now if he is fielded as an opener, it will be interesting to see what the batting order combination of the Indian team will be.

When the Indian captain was asked about his batting order, he said, "Don't worry about who will bat where. We need to think about it and it is not something I will discuss here. We will do what is best for the team."

Both captains believe that the results of the series so far show tough competition between the two teams but things can change quickly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

This has been India's favorite ground in Australia where it has not lost any Test match since 2014. India has won its last Test match here. But this time with three young stars (Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill), a confident opener (KL Rahul) and some old veterans (Virat Kohli and Rohit), this team does not look very confident.

Australia no longer looks like a strong contender like in the past, but despite this, if India has to continue its winning streak at the MCG, then its batsmen will have to perform at their best. Kohli will have to awaken the champion within him and this star batsman will have to maintain patience when Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc will test him by bowling outside the off stump.

Despite the absence of Josh Hazlewood, Australia's attack does not look weak as local player Scott Boland can trouble the Indian batsmen with his accurate length and bouncing balls. Jaiswal, Gill and Pant will have to live up to their expectations and enter the field without any pressure as the captain also wants.

As far as Australia is concerned, all eyes will be on how 19-year-old opener Sam Constas, who is set to make his Test debut, faces fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah. He is well aware that Bumrah has put the career of his predecessor Nathan McSweeney in jeopardy.

The other good news for Australia is that aggressive batsman Travis Head is fully fit and is eager to show his prowess in Melbourne as well, which is sure to increase the wrinkles on Rohit's forehead. Head has been the best performing batsman in the series so far. Indian bowlers will have to adopt a special strategy to curb him.

The temperature here is expected to be around 40 degrees Celsius and in such a situation, keeping a second spinner can also be considered. In such a situation, if India considers keeping Washington Sundar in the final eleven, then it will be interesting to see who will replace him. It would not be a wise decision to leave out Nitish Reddy.

The teams are as follows:

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Tanush Kotian, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Dhruv Jurel, Devdutt Padikkal.

Australia: Pat Cummins, Usman Khawaja, Sam Constastas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wicketkeeper), Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland.