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Kon job: Dazzling debutant lights up Boxing Day, but India fightback keeps Aussies in check

Admin December 26, 2024

On the morning of Boxing Day 2024, Sam Konstas became Australia’s 468th Test cricketer – and fourth-youngest ever – when Mark Taylor presented him with his baggy green cap.

And few if any of the previous 467 could possibly have arrived onto the Test arena in as dazzling a fashion as the 19-year old wunderkind who, in the space of less than two hours at the MCG, became the most exciting new talent Australia has seen in at least two decades, and quite possibly longer.

Gone before lunch on Day 1 against India, Konstas had nevertheless had more than enough time to entrench himself as comfortably the biggest story of a fascinating opening day in Melbourne, that ended with Australia 6/311 and in front if not quite in control of a match where the tourists could easily take the ascendancy with a surge of wickets on Day 2 and a disciplined batting performance on a surface not quite benign but far from unplayable.

From the moment he responded to being beaten four times in his first over at the highest level by Jasprit Bumrah by attempting – and failing – a reverse-ramp in his second, it became clear that the New South Wales prodigy would not be intimidated by Bumrah and co. as many of his more experienced teammates have been this summer.

It would be the same shot that announced the arrival of a rare, if still raw, talent: three ramps, two of them reverse, within five Bumrah balls in the game’s second over brought with them two fours and a six, each blow further chipping away at the aura of menace the masterful Indian had built up with his 21 wickets across the first three Tests of the series.

A second six, this time in more classical fashion over wide long-on, two overs later made Konstas just the second cricketer after Jos Buttler – and some three and a half years on – to dispatch Bumrah for multiple Test sixes.

Duly cowed, the sight of Rohit Sharma yanking Australia’s nemesis from the attack having conceded 38 runs from his first six overs would have gladdened hearts as much as the teen sensation’s scintillating strokeplay.

The impact was immediate and profound: suddenly on the back foot for the first time with the new ball all summer, Sharma’s fielders retreated into the defensive, with a man back at deep third man for the ramp.

It meant Usman Khawaja, subdued throughout the series, could ride elegantly in Konstas’ slipstream, picking up runs at a steady pace if not quite as spectacularly as his young teammate, whose half-century arrived in just 52 balls, the third-quickest ever by an Australian debutant.

Just as evident of the newcomer’s confidence was a run-in with Virat Kohli, his swashbuckling start rattling the Indian veteran sufficiently to start a slanging match moments after a drive-by bump set to see him closely scrutinised, and potentially heavily fined if not suspended, by match referee Andy Pyecroft.

No quarter was given by Konstas in the battle of tongues, and when Khawaja chose to defuse the situation by latching himself onto Kohli rather than his junior partner, the symbolism was profound: Konstas, roughly half Khawaja’s age, was more than capable of looking after himself.

His dismissal for 60, leg before to Ravindra Jadeja offering a rare forward defence, came with Australia set with 89 runs on the board, Khawaja entrenched, the ball more than 19 overs old, and ensured a standing ovation from a capacity MCG crowd after an onslaught none will ever forget.

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That the day was divided into two distinct segments – B.K. (Before Konstas) and A.K. (After) speaks volumes both of the quality of India’s attack, Bumrah especially, and Australia’s determination to vindicate Pat Cummins’ decision to win the toss and bat long and big.

Konstas’ 50 was one of four as all of Australia’s under-pressure top four made the most of their starts.

Khawaja looked as fluent as at any point in the last 12 months, pulling short balls with the languid ease of his best until inexplicably mistiming a Bumrah half-tracker to mid-wicket, quite possibly the worst ball he has bowled all summer long.

Helped by Sharma’s odd insistence on attacking his pads rather than the outside edge that has proved his undoing so frequently of late, Marnus Labuschagne needed to survive nothing more hairy than a pair of Mohammed Siraj nip-backers thundering into his box in successive balls (that term used advisedly) in reaching his second half-century of the series.

Together with Smith, partners in crime so often this series, tea arrived with Australia 2/176 and in command, the score swelling thereafter as the sweltering Melbourne heat began to take its toll.

Despite the occasional jolt of uneven bounce, it was taking Australian errors to bring Indian breakthroughs, Labuschagne’s ill-fated attempt to clear Virat Kohli at mid-off off the otherwise unthreatening spin of Washington Sundar probably the most frustrating, coming as it did with the No.3 on 72 and looking a sure thing for his maiden MCG century.

But upon such cracks do mighty structures topple: for all Konstas’ swashbuckle and Khawaja, Labuschagne and Smith’s steel, India still found their opponents 5/246 and in a spot of bother after a triple strike spearheaded by Bumrah in four overs that threatened to flip the day entirely.

Labuschagne’s fall was followed by Head, India’s tormentor from Adelaide and Brisbane dismissed for a duck in the unlikeliest of fashion – shouldering arms as a Bumrah nip-backer, seemingly delighted by the withdrawal of the South Australian’s normally flashing blade, zeroed in on the off bail with metronomic precision.

Departing soon after was Mitchell Marsh, who with Khawaja and Labuschagne’s fifties must now carry the weight of being the most under-pressure member of the Australian top six, who followed a viciously driven cover drive for four with its antithesis – a meek, early pull shot that grazed the edge en route to Rishabh Pant for Bumrah’s third.

Watching the wickets tumble from the non-striker’s end, it fell to Smith to restore order, upping the ante with noticeable intent as the second new ball dawned.

A thunderous pull stroke off Siraj for six over mid-wicket was positively Konstas-esque, if one of Australia’s finest could possibly be compared to any first-timer regardless of how dazzling their beginning; with a willing partner in Carey and the sight of a weary Bumrah limping from the field with an apparent calf cramp, on Smith pushed, past 50 and then beyond at a brisker pace than he has managed in many a year.

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The wicketkeeper could only muster 31 before Akash Deep finally found the luck that had so deserted him with a string of near misses and desperate appeals earlier in the day, a jaffa seaming away from Carey’s lunging forward defence and taking a tickle through to Pant.

Together with Smith, Cummins successfully negotiated the remaining overs to see Australia safely through to stumps.

It had been a wild, eventful, dramatic day of Test cricket from start to finish; yet for all Bumrah’s brilliance, Smith’s determination, Khawaja’s elegance and Labuschgne’s toughness, there is no doubt who the 87,242-strong MCG crowd will have foremost in their thoughts on the way home.


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