It has been confirmed that Travis Head will partner Usman Khawaja in the Test series in Sri Lanka but could this pose a new opportunity for Sam Konstas to play a different role to one he held in the recent Border Gavaskar Trophy?
Konstas could be batting in the middle order as acting captain Steve Smith chose not to reveal the full playing 11 for the first Galle clash.
While Konstas hasn’t got much experience outside of opening the batting the Australian selectors have not seen that as a key issue with Nathan McSweeney and Smith both opening for Australia recently without first-class experience in that position and they could choose to bat the 19-year-old in the middle.
Konstas has had a key issue when opening the batting as he often gets bowled through the gate off balls that nip of the seam and send him packing.
As someone that has been following him for a while he has struggle immensely with this over his career. In the Under 19 world cup he was dismissed this way multiple times as he was beaten between bat and pad, and Jasprit Bumrah also got him this way in the MCG Test in the second innings.
If Konstas was batting at five there is a likely chance that this would not be much of an issue at all, as with an older ball the lack of swing and seam movement off the pitch could benefit him greatly.
His aggressive play could also bring that element that Australia’s middle order will be missing with Head opening the batting.
In Sri Lanka there will be a huge number of spin overs bowled to middle over batters, hence the promotion of Head, to make sure he faces some kind of pace bowling first up, but Konstas has quick feet movement and the ability to sweep which will also hold him in good stead.
He hasn’t seen much spin in his young Test career but could be awarded the chance to work on his craft with no consequences of this series, dramatically lowering the risk of playing a specialist opener at five.
Many would question this decision due to a lack of opportunity after this series as Head will move back to his usual spot and there will be no role for Konstas.
With him not being picked as an opener the hope is it will teach him lessons on how to play spin for the future. If he’s not going to open he may as well learn from a different position and if he succeeds, it could be a potential option for the Australians when Head inevitably calls it quits in however long that may be (Hopefully not soon).
While Usman Khawaja and Travis Head have been chosen as the openers for this series, there is no reason why Sam Konstas can’t still play a role in this series if given the chance.
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