Nerveless teenage opener Sam Konstas has lit up the Boxing Day Test with an unconventional onslaught of ramp shots against Indian destroyer Jasprit Bumrah.
Konstas, the youngest man ever to open the batting in a Test match for Australia, has hit two boundaries and a six with reverse ramp shots against Bumrah.
The quick, who has had a stranglehold over Australia’s top order in this series, could only laugh as Konstas flicked him over the wicket-keeper’s head for back-to-back boundaries.
Konstas sprinted to the wicket and finished his first national anthem as a Test cricketer with a smile and a musical flourish before riding out a masterful opening over.
Bumrah beat the bat four times in his first set. Not since records began in 2006 has their been more play-and-misses in the first two overs of a Test.
But then Konstas, who had promised he would not die wondering and played secret squirrel with his plans against Bumrah, then took the attack to him.
He attempted a ramp with the 11th and 14th balls he faced, before getting on to his next three efforts.
It had Seven analyst Ricky Ponting pondering how much of the style was a pre-meditated approach.
“I wonder if he sat back last night and said, ‘You know what, boys? I’m going to reverse sweep him all day here,” Ponting said.
The 19-year-old also walked down the wicket to a ball from Mohammed Siraj and exchanged words with the fiery quick.
It’s a knock not dissimilar to the two that catapulted him into the Test side, a century against India for the Prime Minister’s XI and last week’s rapid half-century for Sydney Thunder.
His partner Usman Khawaja survived an early review for lbw of the bowling of Siraj.
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