JASPRIT Bumrah had just welcomed Sam Konstas to Test cricket.
The debutant, all of 19, walked in as the youngest-ever Test opener to have played for Australia. All the cameras had been on the teenager through the national anthem in front of a massive Boxing Day crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Understandably, he was having a ball. Even as the teams walked onto the field, Konstas was the first to get in, take a look at the centre pitch, soaking it all in.
And then, he faced Bumrah. Off the first six balls of his international career, Konstas was beaten on the outside edge four times, and left the other two alone. With the dominating Indian diaspora cheering on, Bumrah was showing the teen debutant what it is like at the highest level. At least for the first six balls.
From the time he scored twin centuries for New South Wales two months ago, Konstas and his fearless strokeplay had been the talk around the country. The hype had been such that even Ricky Ponting was on the bandwagon.
Speaking on Channel 7, one of the official broadcasters, Ponting recalled his first meeting with Konstas before a Big Bash League game earlier this week which gave a glimpse into the confidence of the youngster.
“I walked out to the middle and he was standing right outside and I said, ‘Sam, are you actually playing tonight, mate?’. I hadn’t met him before and I went out of my way to go and shake his hand and meet him. He looked at me and said, ‘yeah they should have played me last year.’ And then he said ‘Oh what have you got coming up after this?’. I said, ‘Oh, I’ve got the IPL in the middle of March’. He said, ‘Well, you will have to get me in the auction next year then, won’t you?’. And the third one was, he said ‘Oh what’s after that?’. I said that I will probably go to England if Australia make it to the WTC final. I’ll be in the UK commentating that. He said ‘Oh, I’ll be in the team by then, so I will catch up with you over there as well,” said Ponting while commentating on Thursday.
And Ponting wasn’t the only one. Everywhere you go in Australia, all they have to talk about is the confidence with which Konstas operates. The youngster himself spoke about how it would be just another day when asked about the debut a couple of days earlier. Till the time he took guard, it all continued like a breath of fresh air. And then it seemed like Bumrah had brought him back to reality.
Little did anyone know that it was just a brief calm before the storm arrived at the MCG.
In Bumrah’s second over, Konstas had gotten off the mark on the second delivery. He resorted to a deadbeat defence before getting beaten. The real ripper came on the fifth ball. Konstas pulled out a reverse ramp with little success. That, however, wasn’t going to stop the youngster.
Konstas was picked with one objective. Challenge Bumrah and throw off his lengths. He was not going to stop the reverse scoop till it came off. And it did in the first ball of the seventh over, but as a scoop for a four. The next ball was a reverse scoop, and this time it went all the way. He did it again on the last ball to get another four. From the media centre to the comm box to the Indian players on the field, everyone was losing their mind. Who in their right sense would try to scoop Bumrah and be successful at it?
Konstas was. He had been brought in to take his chances and so far, it had not backfired. There were numerous plays and misses, but it didn’t matter. Konstas was still out in the middle, alive and kicking. It also allowed Usman Khawaja, who had been struggling to buy a run, to catch a breather.
In the first ten overs, Australia raced to 44/0 — their highest opening stand of the series. While all the attention had been on Konstas, Khawaja had been at a better strike rate with little notice. And it was just after the early break, something happened. Konstas had clearly rattled the Indian team and Virat Kohli took it upon himself to get in some action.
Just before the eleventh over, Kohli bumped shoulders with Konstas and the umpires had to intervene. The youngster, while having looked up to Kohli all his life (he was 2005 born, remember), wasn’t having any of it. Unfazed, he went out and smashed Bumrah down the ground for 18 runs.
Now, it all might seem like a freak show — to an extent, it was — but there was a method to Konstas madness. He used the reverse scoop to throw Bumrah off his length and put a fielder in the back and never brought it back again. In the first hour of the Test match — on a pitch that was flatter than expected — he had not just gotten under the skin of India captain Rohit Sharma who was struggling for moves, but also Bumrah who had to alter his lengths.
And then with the ball was pitched full, Konstas threw the bat down the ground. He became the first batter since Jost Buttler in 2021 to hit Bumrah for a six in Test cricket. He also ensured Bumrah went for more than run-a-ball in his first spell. The 34 of the 38 he scored is the most any batter has ever scored against Bumrah during a spell in Test cricket. Adding to it, Konstas would even say that he is keen on facing Bumrah in his second spell during a conversation with the broadcasters at drinks.
The teen sensation, who created history by just walking onto the field, lived up to every bit of hype that was around him as he got to his half-century in front of family and friends and coach Tahmid Islam who had flown in from Sydney to watch him. He eventually fell to Jadeja in the 20th over, with a 65-ball 60 to show, but Konstas’ knock was so much more than that.
In what was perhaps the most hyped and anticipated Australian men’s Test debut in the last decade, Konstas played the most impactful knock on debut by an opener in this century. He made India throw away the plan-book and made them play catch-up for the rest of the day. If not for a couple of soft dismissals and Bumrah doing Bumrah things, Australia would have batted India out of the contest already. And that is, all thanks to one 19-year-old Sam Konstas.
