Debutant Konstas delivers the Boxing Day punch at the MCG

Australia vs India | Fourth Test | Day one

Australia’s stated pre-game ambition to “throw something different” against India’s dominant bowlers produced a result few predicted as teenager Sam Konstas’ fiery debut capped a dominant bowling effort on Boxing Day.

While ‘old hands’ Steve Smith (68no), Marnus Labuschagne (72) and Usman Khawaja (57) provided the backbone, it was 19-year-old Konstas’ flamboyance at the top that put Australia on course for a one-day 6 -311.

Konstas’ 60 from 65 balls was an innings of far greater significance than a simple scorecard can convey, and will rival David Hookes’ five consecutive boundaries off England’s Tony Greig on debut in the 1977 Centenary Test among indelible MCG memories.

Almost half a century after Hookes’ heroics, it remains the stuff of legend among those who, rightly or otherwise, claim to have been present, and the same will no doubt be true as the official Boxing Day attendance figure of 87,242 rises exponentially in the coming decades.

After skipper Pat Cummins won his first toss of the series and elected to unleash his batsmen, Australia’s total stumps represented the best Day 1 return by any team at the annual MCG Test since the home side’s 3-345 against the West Indies in 2015.

But in keeping with the events of this razor-edged battle across three previous Tests, it took just one innings for the tide to abruptly turn and once again the irresistible force was India’s fast-bowling genius Jasprit Bumrah.

At 2-237, almost an hour into the final session, Australia held the whip that had initially been swung so brutally by Konstas, only for their grip to loosen as they lost 3-9 in 23 balls.

Top off! Bumrah cuts the head stump for a duck

After Labuschagne had a gap trying to recapture some of the day’s earlier momentum, Travis Head’s golden run came to an ominous end when he was bowled by Bumrah for a duck without giving a shot as the bowler simply shrugged it off in deference to his own abilities.

Then all-rounder Mitchell Marsh’s attempt to heave over mid-wicket brought nothing more than a top edge and his fifth single-figure score from six Test innings as Bumrah stretched his wicket tally for the series to 24 at just under 12 runs apiece.

Despite the many wickets, Australia kept their foot on the pedal throughout the final hour as Smith and Alex Carey added 53, with the latter showing a Konstas-like willingness to bowl with a blazing 31 from 41 deliveries before succumbing for the other. new ball.

Smith survived a couple of confident lbw calls early in his innings – one (on 18) that brought a failed review from India and another that they heavily considered – but came to revel in the stifling conditions.

He took a particularly heavy toll on fast bowler Mohammed Siraj, whose cool demeanor belied his unflattering figures, as shown when Smith doggedly lifted him over the square leg fence.

Which nerves? Konstas lights up the MCG with whirlwind debut

But Australia’s most consistent top effort to date in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series was built on the unconventionally inescapable contribution of the youngest opener fielded in almost 150 years of the nation’s Test encounters.

Konstas revealed in an interview with Channel Seven after his dismissal that his series of extravagant backward rampages and charging at India’s quicks were born of the moment rather than through pre-game planning.

But there is also a strong chance that it developed quickly after Bumrah’s opening over, as the debutant bowled and missed on four of the six deliveries, in the same way that India’s spearhead had pinned Konstas’ predecessors in all series.

Instead of becoming just another statistic, the right-hander took to the attack using a mindset and method rarely, if ever, encountered by the world’s number one-ranked Test bowler.

After signaling his sudden change in approach by aiming failed backward ramps in consecutive overs from Bumrah, Konstas tossed down the pitch and launched a huge lift at Mohammed Siraj, who again failed to make contact.

But the verbal confrontation between the two – which saw the teenager go after the blazing quick after that delivery and again come over – ignited the touch paper for the pyrotechnics to follow.

The audacious scoop over fine leg from Bumrah’s yorker-length offering to start his next over was immediately followed by an even more outrageous reverse over a wide-eyed slip cordon that saw the bail sail over the boundary rope.

The impact these two counter strikes had on the previously faultless fast bowler was graphically illustrated when he hit full and wide over Konstas’ fluttering bat.

Another reverse ramp for a boundary forced India into a drastic change of field with a fly slip even though the game was barely half an hour old and when Konstas continued his onslaught on Siraj, it was Virat Kohli who was the first to lose his cool.

But perhaps the most telling example of Konstas’ tactics and the radical momentum swing they inspired accompanied his installation as the 59th Australian men’s batsman to reach 50 in their first Test innings.

His attempt to advance towards Siraj and cut him through mid-wicket dribbled off the bottom edge of the bat, but despite being only the 14th over of the innings, India’s leg-side fielders were set so deep that they Australian openers scrambled two while the crowd. rose to the new boy’s milestone.

Konstas had taken an unprecedented 18 from a single Bumrah over en route to his half-century and for just the second time in the series (after Australia’s first innings at the Gabba) the home side had survived the pace ace’s opening spell without surrendering a wicket.

It was the introduction of Ravindra Jadeja’s left-arm spin that completed Australia’s most prolific opening stand since Khawaja and David Warner’s 90 in the corresponding MCG Test against Pakistan last summer.

But by then Australia had seized the initiative in the must-win game and the Boxing Day crowd had witnessed the announcement of a major new talent whose arrival will endure regardless of his career path going forward.

Konstas receives Baggy Green No.468 from Taylor

Not only did Konstas get the highest maiden score by an Australian Test opener since Will Pucovski’s 62 (also against India) at the SCG four summers ago, his strike rate of 92.3 was the best of any Australian batsman to pass 50 on debut since Ashton Agar’s equally memorable 98 from 101 balls (97.03) at Trent Bridge in 2013.

It was the third-fastest half-century posted by an Australian batsman on debut behind Agar and Adam Gilchrist (against Pakistan at the Gabba in 1999).

Tellingly, the best ever strike rate by an Australian opener in their opening knock was Wayne Phillips’ 64.63 when he had 159 against Pakistan in Perth more than four decades ago.

The game took on a more recognizable Test-match pace as Khawaja and Labuschagne steadily built on the foundation laid so quickly in the hectic opening session.

Khawaja ends run drought with classic 50

Khawaja’s first half-century since making 75 against the West Indies at the Gabba in January featured some neat deflections that complemented Konstas’ brute force, as well as a couple of sumptuous strokes down the ground.

Rather like their contrasting path to the center at the start of the day, the 38-year-old looked set to reach the same destination as his emerging partner, albeit in twice the time, until the irrepressible Bumrah returned to the attack.

With the first ball in his spell, Bumrah lured the left-hander into one of the pull shots, Khawaja only enjoys seeing it hit high on the bat and loop to mid-wicket.

It was the fifth time in six completed innings in this series that Khawaja had fallen to his new nemesis and it is not unfair to suggest that his highest score of the campaign to date was made possible by the fact that he did not have to face Bumrah before the inning. ‘ ninth over.

Khawaja’s was the only Australian wicket to fall during the middle session as Labuschagne and Smith looked increasingly comfortable on a pitch that appeared to contain few of the early demons of recent summers.

Marnus finds form with composed half-century

Labuschagne’s second 50 of the series arrived amid a flurry of boundaries as he delicately dabbed Jadeja behind the crease, and the pair’s 50-run stand shortly after tea signaled a pick-up in tempo.

Ahead of the match, Australia coach Andrew McDonald had reiterated that his team’s number three batsman was at his most effective when he was busy, showed intent and at his most “annoying” to opposition bowlers.

Labuschagne had duly looked the most fluid he has been over the summer, with boundaries behind and in front of the wicket as he notched up his first Test century since his match-saving 111 at Old Trafford during the 2023 Ashes campaign.

But after indicating to Fox Cricket during an on-ground interview during the first drinks break of the last session that Australia’s aggressive approach against India’s spinners had not been preordained, he immediately fell prey to that mindset.

First ball after resumption, Labuschagne sprang down the track to off-spinner Washington and hit a catch to Kohli who held over his head at deep mid-off.

Labuschagne could hardly reconcile what he has done with the bowling seemingly at his mercy, and his unease could only have worsened as his demise sparked a middle-order implosion as India clawed back a day that had threatened to slip out of their grasp.

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First test: India won by 295 runs

Second test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third test: Match tied

Fourth test: 26.-30. December: MCG, Melbourne, at 10.30am AEDT

Fifth test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc , Beau Webster

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Akhammed De Siepraj, , Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal