To provide a full and proper appraisal of Sam Konstas’ first two Test matches for Australia, it’s worth going back and remembering why he was picked in the first place.
“We wanted to throw a new challenge at India,” said coach Andrew McDonald about the decision to replace Nathan McSweeney with Konstas for the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
“What he’s shown is an array of shots and an ability to put pressure back on his opponents. Whether it works or not, time will tell.”
Time has told. It worked.
If McSweeney was a little too timid in his first three Tests against India, then Konstas, the 19-year-old tyro from Sydney’s south, went the other way. And that is surely what he was asked to do: put pressure back on Australia’s opponents and create space for runs to be made.
History will record that Konstas played a vital hand in ensuring the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was won by Australia for the first time in a decade. His convention-dismantling 60 on debut at the MCG changed the course of the series. He got into India’s heads. He unsettled Jasprit Bumrah, their most lethal bowling weapon. He rattled Virat Kohli so much he embarrassed himself.
Sam Konstas has split opinion very quickly.Credit: Steven Siewert
In Sydney, Konstas continued to fulfil the role required of him. In the second innings, with Bumrah unable to bowl due to........