NEWS
Follow UsWhen Australia won the toss and opted to bat in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Sam Konstas became the youngest-ever opener to have played Tests for the Kangaroos.
It was expected that Konstas would take the attack to the Indian bowlers - unlike his predecessor, Nathan McSweeney - but the extent of the teenager’s aggression left the entire cricketing world in shock.
On the 11th ball he faced, Konstas attempted a reverse scoop off Jasprit Bumrah, much to the utter bemusement of everyone watching. Four balls later, he tried the shot unsuccessfully once again. But things finally fell into place for the youngster in the seventh over when he went 4, 6, 4 against India’s talisman, starting off with a conventional scoop before unleashing two reverse scoops.
That over started one of the craziest onslaughts in recent history, with the teenager eventually taking 34 runs off the 33 balls he faced against Bumrah in the innings.
On the back of the knock, Konstas explained the reasoning behind his approach.
“It wasn’t in the plan yesterday, I was gonna play good cricket shots [laughs],” Konstas told Channel Seven.
“Bumrah is obviously a world-class bowler so the idea was to put pressure on him and make him change his tactics.”
The teenager, who became the fourth-youngest player for Australia in Test history, revealed that he was emboldened by the words of skipper Pat Cummins, who gave him the full freedom to express himself.
“Cummins asked me to be fearless. We had Christmas lunch yesterday and I could see that this was a very united group,” Konstas said.
The youngster also lauded his opening partner, Usman Khawaja, for helping him settle.
“He’s a legend. He’s very comfortable to bat with. He asked me to keep backing myself. Loved batting with Ussie - great mentor and great leader.”
Finally, Konstas cleared the air on the confrontation with Virat Kohli. After the 10th over of the innings, during the change of overs, Kohli "intentionally" barged into the teenager before giving him a staredown.
Extended replays showed that the Indian veteran instigated the contact, changing direction to "intentionally" get in the way of the youngster.
“I think the emotions got to both of us,” Konstas said.
“I didn’t quite realise, I was doing my gloves and then I got a shoulder barge. But it happens in cricket.”
