Sam Konstas: Teenage Australia opener's journey to India Test in Melbourne
2024-12-31
Category: sports

Sam Konstas first revealed his plan to ramp Jasprit Bumrah over a pre-match meal late on Christmas Day."We had dinner the night before the game and he said he would do it on 150 if he got there," his batting coach Tahmid Islam tells BBC Sport.Fast forward a few hours and debutant Konstas, Australia's new 19-year-old batting sensation, was doing so on Boxing Day in front of 90,000 people at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.Only, he had not waited until his 150th run, and not even his 150th ball."Initially I thought I might be out of a job as batting coach when he missed the first couple," Islam says.
Konstas may have failed with those first two scoops, but he tried again soon after and hit Bumrah - the world's top-ranked bowler - for a six and two fours on the way to 60 from 65 balls.Those shots marked one of the most remarkable starts to a Test career in recent memory â cult hero status gained in a matter of minutes by a batter long tipped for the top.Because, while Konstas' emergence at the highest level was explosive, the journey to get there has been long.He was the Sydney suburb kid of Greek heritage who was scoring hundreds before his age had reached double figures.In October he became the youngest player since the great Ricky Ponting to score centuries in each innings of a match in the Sheffield Shield, Australia's first-class competition.Two years before that, and just a month after his 17th birthday, Konstas became the youngest batter to score a century for Sutherland in the top tier of Sydney's notoriously tough grade cricket.The previous holder of that record? A certain Steve Smith."I remember not being too surprised it was him that did it," says Sutherland captain Tom Doyle.The talent has always been there, those scoop shots too."We had a T20 game and he had come off a hundred in the U21s game in the morning," says Doyle, remembering another innings by Konstas while still aged 17."I remember him getting sledged by the opposition and he preceded to ramp like he did for Australia against some pretty intimidating first grade bowlers."A host of internationals have passed through the club's pavilion - Smith, Shane Watson, West Indies legend Andy Roberts and Glenn McGrath to name a few.Konstas joined as a 17-year-old in 2022 from St George's - the club where the great Sir Don Bradman once played - in a switch that made the newspapers, such was the noise around him."It is hard to compare," Doyle says. "From a talent level, Sam is no doubt on par."He is on this upwards curve where he keeps getting better and better each time he plays."Those that know Konstas describe him as polite and a hard worker.During his time at Cranbrook School, then in his early teens, he first met Islam - a former first-class cricketer and a batting consultant in the school's cricket set-up.He and Islam speak every day, practising together numerous times per week, while Watson, the all-rounder who played 307 times for Australia, has become a mentor working on Konstas' mental approach."The one that really sticks out was when I was at the rugby grand final and Sammy kept calling me," Islam says."He wasn't quite happy with how he had batted in his club session, had a game the next day and wanted a net session at 6am before his game."I remember thinking I have never seen anyone have that desire and hunger to make sure he has ticked every box to give himself the best chance."He hit for about an hour and a half and got 205 in that game."
While Konstas' first innings in international cricket had all of the shots of a Bazballer, scoring big hundreds is how he made his name."Looking back on a lot of Sam's innings, he doesn't play every day of cricket the same," says Sutherland's Doyle."He is a multi-dimensional cricketer. The way he played in a lot of his first grade innings is more traditional, with a spark of flair here and there."The other thing people mention when talking about Konstas is confidence.The confidence to ramp Bumrah, the confidence to not be put off by a shoulder barge by Virat Kohli, the confidence to point to the name on the back of his shirt when reaching 50 and wave his arm to ramp up the capacity Boxing Day crowd.England might well be taking notes, with the Ashes coming up towards the end of 2025 down under."There can be a blurred line between arrogance and confidence," Doyle says."Sam has, through a lot of hard work and persistence, developed a level of confidence to score runs in a way that works for him."You see him revving up the crowds. We don't have crowds at grade cricket but that is his personality coming out. He is an energised, enthusiastic and eager cricketer."Him being that person for the crowd is just his personality coming out."That confidence will, of course, be tested as his international career continues.The second-innings effort was more difficult for Konstas, as he reached only eight before Bumrah gained some revenge with an inswinger that hit middle stump having gone through the gate."He has always had this desire and hunger to get it right and to continue to develop his game," Islam says of Konstas."At the start of every season we write down a few goals and plans for the season coming up and playing Test cricket certainly wasn't part of that."Those goals may have changed after Konstas' week in the spotlight. He will hope the run-scoring does not.