Konstas hasn’t done anything to be dropped, but it was still the right decision

Game day in Galle… the first ball right here on SEN Test Cricket at 3.30pm.

Australia has lost four of its past five Test matches in Sri Lanka.

An environment that is exotic, beguiling and quite often bamboozling.

The appropriate caution is there in the reticence to lock in its team.

Australia is typically decisive and settled, boldly declaring its XI well ahead of time, but it is on high alert for changing conditions and wants maximum options when it looks at the pitch today.

What has been confirmed is Travis Head will open the batting with Usman Khawaja.

I suspect this won’t be popular given it displaces young tyro Sam Konstas… but it is the right call.

From the moment Head went to the top of the order in India two years ago he looked a complete natural in that position on the subcontinent.

And Khawaja has been through the perils of turning tracks in Asia and developed a method that has served him and the team well.

Konstas is the future… but in these conditions he is not today.

I quite liked the idea of Head, Konstas and Khawaja sharing the top three and Labuschagne moving to five but that train of thought progressively lost steam.

Konstas was a brilliant tactical choice to disrupt Jasprit Bumrah and that profoundly effective at the MCG.

The 19-year-old was great for the team internally and certainly for its connection with the public.

By Sydney he was the biggest debating point in sport and there’s a collective eagerness to see what happens next.

But Australia’s best chance of getting into an innings at Galle is with Khawaja and Head.

And that’s the task for the selectors today… what’s the best chance of winning the first Test and keeping the trophy in our possession.

It’s the sort of strategic selection I’m totally in favour of.

Culturally we’re obsessed with the idea Konstas has been axed… that’s what all the headlines scream. I just can’t see it that way.

He was brought in for a specific task against India… it worked.

Beau Webster was promoted as an in-form Shield player in Sydney and it worked – it probably should’ve happened one Test earlier.

I thought Josh Inglis was ready for elevation during the summer… it seems that will happen today.

Less ownership of positions in the team and more picking the best team for the game at hand.

Konstas hasn’t done anything to be dropped… he just hasn’t been selected to open this Test.

He’ll be there again soon enough when it’s to his and the team’s best advantage. It’s not popular… but it is right.

The selection of this squad was certainly about embracing the future… but picking today’s XI is about winning the Test.