Teenager Sam Konstas truly made the hype around his name count as he scored a quick-fire fifty on debut as Australia raced to 112 for 1 at lunch on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test against India on Thursday. Konstas replaced Nathan McSweeney in Australia’s playing XI and showed exactly why the selectors made the bold call of adding him to the team. The batter started off slow, even struggled against Jasprit Bumrah before unleashing some exquisite T20 cricket shots to put the pressure back on the bowler and the Indian team.

The 19-year-old debutant’s 60 off 65 balls included six fours and two sixes, both coming off Jasprit Bumrah, rattling the Indian pace spearhead.

Konstas collected 16 runs off Bumrah’s fourth over as he smashed two fours and a maximum. It was the first six the Indian pacer conceded in Test cricket in nearly four years. Most of the boundaries that Konstas hit came in the form of ramp shots, both conventional and reverse as the 19-year-old showed why he is such a highly rated batter in that part of the world.

WHAT IS GOING ON?!

Konstas ramps Bumrah for four…

And next ball ramps Bumrah for SIX!#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/crhuNOMVLc

— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 26, 2024

Konstas became the first batter in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy to hit a six against Bumrah. While most of the other Australian batters struggled to even withstand the pressure posed by the marquee Indian pacer, Konstas showed a new way he could be tackled.

However, Ravindra Jadeja put an end to Konstas’ entertaining innings by trapping him leg-before in the 20th over.

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.

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.

With PTI Inputs