Pat Cummins, who is serving as an Australian captain, conveyed a special message to the 19-year-old debutant Sam Kontas ahead of the fourth Test against India, urging the batter to enjoy being a part of the Boxing Day Test, and not overthink it. The U19 ICC World Cup-winning star Konstas, who has created a lot of hype for himself following a slew of powerful performances at the domestic level for New South Wales (NSW), will simply justify himself, fighting an Indian attack led by a world-class Jasprit Bumrah, discouraging any thoughts of a desire going into a series-leading 2-1 after drawing the third Test at Brisbane at his motivational best. Speaking during the pre-match presser as quoted by cricket.com.au, Cummins thinks back to his Test debut match in October, 2011, during which he made seven wickets across both innings, including a six-wicket haul, with South Africa. Cummins said that even he was as excited as the Konstas before his debut according to him. And he further said that “there is a level of naivety” when players start because they want to take the game on as if it is “backyard” cricket.
“It was pretty amazing. You spend a little bit of time wondering why, or how, I’m here and how I got here so quickly. I just remember being really excited,” said Cummins.
“That’s pretty much similar to how Sammy feels this week. There is that level of naivety you just want to go out and play like you do when you are a kid in the backyard. You just want to take the game on, have fun, and not overthink it.”
“That’s the thing that I’ve conveyed to Sam. That was definitely what I was thinking as an 18-year-old. I was just really excited, and once the game started, you go into game mode and it’s just like any other game,” he concluded.
The captain of Australia hilariously remarked at how as an 18-year-old, he thought he had much more leeway in case of bad games-it was the fault of the selectors for picking him at such a young age in his view.
” I remember thinking as an 18-year-old: ‘I have got a lot more leeway because I was young’- almost publicly so I almost felt like, when I didn’t have a great game, it wasn’t my fault-it was the selectors’ fault for picking me,” he said.
“I was like, ‘well, they’re the idiots that picked a 18-year-old!’ You are so young starting off your career- it is Boxing Day and doesn’t get better than this. So just enjoy the moment,” he signed off.
Konstas played a pivotal role in Australia’s triumph at the ICC U19 World Cup 2024, scoring 191 runs in seven innings at an average of 27.28, including a century. He also played in a two-match series between Australia A and India A prior to the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, scoring 92 runs in four innings, highlighted by a match-winning 73*. He made an astounding 107 off 97 balls in the pink-ball warm-up game against India, asserting his prominence against a very good Indian attack.
Even in the current Sheffield Shield season, Konstas is the fifth-highest run-scorer with 471 runs in five matches at a fantabulous average of 58.87, including two centuries and a half century, with a highest score of 152.
Australia XI for the fourth Test: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland.
Download the CricInformer app
Take CricInformer with you. Get our app for cricket news and updates on your phone.