Australia opener Sam Konstas announced his arrival in Test cricket with a bang. Konstas played some highly audacious shots and was fearless on his Test debut. Not many would have predicted him to take India’s best bowler Jasprit Bumrah on.
But the youngster was determined and fearless enough to show his aggressive batting style against the world’s best bowler. Steve Smith, the only centurion in this Test so far, recently spoke on watching Konstas from the dugout.
While the 19-year-old was going at a brisk rate, the Australian dressing room was enjoying his batting. As soon as he completed his fifty, the dressing room was on its feet to applaud the youngster.
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Steve Smith speaks on Sam Konstas’ unorthodox shots to Jasprit Bumrah
After the end of the second day’s play, Steve Smith was asked about Sam Konstas’ innings on his debut in the press conference. Smith hailed the youngster’s confidence and claimed that he doesn’t fear anything.
Smith also praised the way Konstas was playing shots like reverse scoops off Jasprit Bumrah and claimed that he had a heart attack while watching those shots in the dugout.
“I don’t think much fazes the young kid, as so we saw yesterday. He was reverse ramping (Jasprit) Bumrah for a six and I was having a heart attack up in the box. But look, I thought it was all good. No stress,” Smith told the reporters.
Sam Konstas’ aggressive style against Jasprit Bumrah
Sam Konstas attempted to play unorthodox shots off India’s bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah right from the third over of the match. However, he failed to connect any of them as Bumrah returned a smile.
However, that didn’t stop Konstas from attempting to play such shots. In Bumrah’s next over, he played a scoop over for a four and then smashed him for a six with a reverse scoop.
These shots got Konstas going and he went on to play some more eye-catching shots in an exhilarating display of batsmanship. He even smashed Jasprit Bumrah for a six over long-on which shows his confidence and fearless attitude.
In between, Konstas was also involved in a physical altercation with Virat Kohli in which both the players were found to be colliding shoulders with each other. The ICC later found Kohli guilty of the incident and slapped a fine on the former India captain.
Sam Konstas gives Australia a strong start
Konstas smashed 60 off 65 balls and stitched an excellent partnership of 89 runs for the first wicket with Usman Khawaja. The openers laid a solid base for Australia as they went on to score a huge total of 474 on the board. Steve Smith top-scored for Australia with an excellent 140 off 197 balls.
Sam Konstas had replaced Nathan McSweeney in this game after the latter returned disappointing scores in the first three Tests of the series. McSweeney was found wanting against Jasprit Bumrah with the new ball and didn’t seem to find an answer to him.