It doesn’t get bigger than the Boxing Day Test at the iconic MCG. In front of a packed stadium, a 19-year-old debutant rattled India and sent them on the backfoot very early in this fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Sam Konstas made the headlines early on Day 1 as he smashed a stunning half-century which put Australia ahead. He batted fearlessly, playing the laps, reverse laps, giving the charge down the ground and all of this put the Indian bowlers off their lines and lengths.
Australia won the toss and opted to bat first. India sprung a surprise as they left out Shubman Gill and brought in Washington Sundar. Meanwhile, as announced, Australia handed a debut to Konstas while Scott Boland came in for the injured Josh Hazlewood.
Jasprit Bumrah got the ball to talk in his first couple of overs. He beat Konstas four times in the first over of the game. The 19-year-old top-order batter seemed to be all at sea. Mohammed Siraj started well too as he went past Usman Khawaja’s edge a few times in his first over.
Bumrah continued to trouble Konstas who tried a couple of audicous reverse laps and missed. The latter even tried to hoick Siraj over the leg-side after walking down the track. The Indian new-ball pair were looking good and it seemed like a wicket was around the corner.
But Konstas had other ideas. He continued with his over-aggressive approach. He connected with the conventional lap against Bumrah and got his first boundary. He went reverse the very next delivery and that went all the way for six. It was the first six hit off Bumrah in nearly four years. Konstas went again a couple of balls later as the reverse lap yielded another boundary.
That forced a change in the field from India as they had to employ a third man. It was that 14-run over from Bumrah that shifted the momentum drastically. The runs flowed from then on. The debutant continued to get beaten but didn’t shy away from going out on the attack.
He cut Siraj through point before driving and lofting Bumrah down the ground. The best fast bowler in the world was carted around for 38 runs in his opening spell of six overs. He even had an altercation with Virat Kohli in between overs but Konstas was unfazed.
He raced to fifty in no time (it came off 52 balls). After long first spells, Rohit Sharma got Akash Deep and Ravindra Jadeja to bowl in tandem. The duo kept things tight. Akash Deep bowled in good areas and posed some decent questions to the Australian openers.
Jadeja gets India a much-needed breakthrough
There was a period of five overs which saw only 12 runs being scored. India kept things quiet through Akash Deep and Jadeja before the latter struck. The left-arm spinner got one to slid on with the arm and had Konstas plumb in front. The 19-year-old debutant’s swashbuckling innings came to an end as he departed for 60. His knock included five fours and two sixes. The 89-run opening stand was the best for Australia in this series.
Marnus Labuschagne walked out and looked a lot more confident than he has in the entire series. He got a couple of boundaries off Jadeja through third man. At the other end, Khawaja has played and missed but this has been the most assured he’s looked throughout the series.
India were caught by surprise with Konstas’ attack. At 112/1, they are already behind in the game and things are looking ominous with the MCG pitch looking a good one to bat. Khawaja and Labuschagne have already added 23 runs. India need to strike early after lunch while Australia will look to capitalize on the excellent start.
BRIEF SCORES: Australia 112/1 (Sam Konstas 60, Usman Khawaja 38*, Ravindra Jadeja 1/20) vs India.
