For a 19-year-old, Sam Konstas is feisty, to say the least. On the surface area, it seemed like he was all fire and arrogance, but the reality is slightly different. Konstas is also reasonable. He accepted his fault in riling up Jasprit Bumrah on Day 2 of the fifth Test against India in Sydney, which resulted in a charged-up Bumrah dismissing Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the day. With Konstas, it was crystal clear from the onset he made his entry into the Test arena that he was meant to hog the limelight, which may not always be for the right reasons.
Not often would you see a teenager on Test debut egging the crowd of 90,000 to cheer more for him after scoring a fifty. And it was not just his theatrics that caught the eye. The way Konstas disregarded the aura of Jasprit Bumrah by charging down the track and successfully reverse-ramping him with the new ball on his first tryst with international cricket was enough to stand up and take note. It was a dual effect of the youngster that got India rattled. Virat Kohli decided to give a shoulder charge in Melbourne. Although he got away with a 20% fine and one demerit point, he was heavily criticised by one and all.
Konstas, however, did not take a step back. He continued to celebrate Indian wickets by trying to jeer up the crowd, a gesture repeated by Bumrah after cleaning him up in the second innings at the MCG. Come Syndey, it was evident that Konstas was not the popular man in the Indian dressing room. The Indians were not going to take the audacious display of a teenager lightly. And they didn’t. Konstas got his fair share of sledging when he came out to bat, but things came to a boil in Australia’s second innings.
The Bumrah-Konstas boiling pint in Sydney
With barely 15 minutes of play remaining for the close of pay, Australia’s openers Khawaja and Konstas had the hard task of keeping Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj at bay on a spicey SCG track. With only two balls remaining in the third over, Khawaja wanted to make sure it was the last before the day. He stopped Bumrah in his tracks when the India pacer was ready to bowl the fifth ball. This didn’t go down well, Bumrah, who flung his arms, asking Khawaja to get ready.
For some strange reason, Konstas decided to have a go at Bumrah from the non-striker’s end. The Indian stand-in skipper replied, and the duo exchanged a heated moment before the umpire stepped in. Bumrah’s next ball was a length ball outside off, which Khawaja left alone but for the last ball of the day, Bumrah decided to come closer to stumps and then take the ball away from the left-hander from a fuller length. Khawaja got sucked into it and provided an outside edge to the slip cordon.
The Indians charged towards Konstas to celebrate the wicket. Bumrah took a couple of assertive steps towards the youngster and stopped.
A couple of days after Australia won the Test and reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after more than a decade, Konstas said I was his fault.
“Oh, I didn’t get too fazed. Unfortunately, Uzi got out. He was trying to buy some time a little bit. It was probably my fault, but it happens. It’s cricket. Credit to Bumrah. He got the wicket, but obviously great performance from the team,” Konstas told Triple M.
