Sam Konstas Set For Maiden Call-Up In Boxing Day Test Against India
The fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will kick off on December 26, Thursday, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Before the Boxing Day Test, Australia Cricket made some changes to the team, dropping Nathan McSweeney from the team.
The 19-year-old player Sam Konstas got his maiden call-up for the fourth Test against India. He is a replacement for McSweeney in the Australian squad and can get paired up with Usman Khawaja for the fourth Test. He has had a huge rise in his cricketing career and was part of Australia's title-winning team in the ICC U19 World Cup, defeating India. He recently played against India in the Prime Minister's XI, having an idea of what kind of players they are and the kind of game they play.
As the MCG Test is approaching, Konstas opened up on his preparations against India and said that he hopes to get the opportunity on Boxing Day. He described Indian bowlers as the best in the world, but he is also ready to face them and hoping to get experience of their bowling.
“Not really. I’ve watched them (Bumrah bowling videos) quite a bit, but I'm just trying to be in the moment, and yeah, hopefully I get the opportunity on Boxing Day. They’re all very good bowlers. Obviously they’re the best in the world, but I'm looking forward to the challenge, and hopefully I’ll get to experience that this week.”
Further, he said that he had a chat with KL Rahul during the tour.
"I had a little chat with KL Rahul (during the tour match), just talking about how he goes about it, but other than that, it's pretty simple."
Currently the series is at 1-1, India winning the first Test by 295 runs in Perth while Australia winning the second by 10 wickets in Adelaide. The third Test got drawn due to bad weather and lightning. In the fourth Test both the teams will be looking forward to winning the Test and taking the lead.