Konstas shines on debut as Australia race to 112 for 1

Melbourne, Dec 26 (PTI) Debutant Sam Konstas made a scintillating half-century off just 52 balls as Australia raced to 112 for 1 at lunch on the opening day of the fourth Test against India here on Thursday.
     The 19-year-old Konstas (60 off 65 balls) showed why he is rated so highly after Australia opted to bat on a good batting surface.
     He shared an 89-run stand with veteran Usman Khawaja (38 batting), who got a chance to play himself into some sort of form. At the break, Khawaja had Marnus Labuschagne (12 batting) were in the middle.
     It began with few play and misses off Jasprit Bumrah’s opening over but as soon as the teenage opener got his first couple of runs, things changed dramatically.
     The fearlessness of youth stood out on the big stage as Konstas pulled off a reverse lap-scoop against Bumrah before smashing him over mid-on for another maximum. There was another reverse lap scoop for a boundary wide of third man, using Bumrah’s extra pace.
     The fans and experts alike were forced to think the last time Bumrah (0/41 in 8 overs) was hit for two sixes in his first morning spell of a Test match. They couldn’t because it never happened.
     The stump mic caught him saying “Beginner’s Luck” but he seemed to have enough wares to answer his probing queries. And it was laced with a lot of spunk that allowed him to get into a verbal duel with Virat Kohli after their shoulders brushed while crossing each other.
     He often shuffled towards leg-stump to make room and on one occasion crunched Bumrah past covers. Mohammed Siraj was welcomed into the attack with a loud round of boos as he sledged the youngster due to his unconventional hitting style.
     In all, he hit six fours apart from the two maximums. Only Akash Deep (0/15 in 6 overs) bowled a good channel among the pacers as Siraj was guilty of bowling too full or too short.
     As Australia scored at more than a fair clip, skipper Rohit Sharma had to introduce Ravindra Jadeja (1/20 in 4 overs) in the 16th over to at least stem the flow of runs before it went out of hand.
     The decision did pay dividends as the seasoned spinner got an arm ball to skid through with the angle to trap Konstas in front.
     Australia head coach Andrew McDonald had said that the decision to include Konstas was a conscious one as they wanted an enforcer who could take on the attack initially and he did more than what was expected. Once he trudged back, he duly got a standing ovation from a near capacity MCG crowd.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)