A day after former Test cricketers Ian Healy and Darren Lehmann slammed him for being too close to the players and not making brave selectorial calls, the chief selector George Bailey has made his move, dropping Nathan McSweeney and bringing in the teen sensation Sam Konstas, who has already hit three first-class hundreds this season and starred with an aggressive century in the pink-ball tour game against the Indians in Canberra.
He has been dubbed the ‘Greek Freak’ by former Australian player and commentator Kerry O’Keeffe. In New South Wales, where he plays his cricket, his nickname is ‘Pinter’, pint-sized Punter, which is of course Ricky Ponting’s nickname. Perhaps only the former Australian captain Michael Clarke, who had been dubbed ‘Little Pup’, had been this hyped as a young cricketer.
Nineteen-year-old Konstas comes from a Greek family in New South Wales and was a ‘water boy’ for a Test in Sydney against South Africa last January. It’s been a rapid rise from there, and Indians have already had more than a glimpse of him. At Canberra, after a cautious start where he sussed out that there was nothing much in the pitch nor any devil in the pink-ball, he slammed the Indian bowling that had Mohammad Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, and Washington Sundar.
Another ton for Sam Konstas! 🔥
A sublime knock by the teenager against India #PMXIvIND pic.twitter.com/hZOnuRYbB8
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 1, 2024
That he is the next big thing was evident in how the fans waited to get his autographs and selfies at the end of that Prime Minister’s XI game at Canberra. With a lovely big smile, he signed and posed even as his name was chanted by some of his friends in the crowd.
Simple batting technique
His batting technique is pretty simple and clear. He has a slightly open stance, front shoulder facing the non-striker, the back leg on the middle stump, the front leg on leg and middle — and he stays absolutely still. In the initial overs, with not much movement around, he defended without fuss, and at times without much foot movement.
Later after he figured out the pitch, he changed his approach — he charged the Indian pacers, and kept pulling Rana, who bowled short and on the middle and leg line at him. They were crisp pulls, swivelling from that open-stance to thump it up and over in style.
There was even a shot of impunity when he went down on his knee to smear Prasidh Krishna over midwicket with some panache. There were also a few lap scoops attempted and one came off spectacularly against Akash Deep. Not that the shot is a rarity these days but the fluidity in his shot was quite something as if he were swatting a fly.
At one point, Sarfaraz Khan stood near him, waited for him to turn and lifted his right leg in the air, contorting his body in different angles and twirled his arms wildly. It was a possible reference to some of the shots Konstas played — slashing, backing-away to carve, lap-shots, and down-on-knee pulls. Behind the stumps Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant laughed at Sarfaraz’s antics and pretty soon on boxing day, they will get another ringside view of the very confident Greek Freak.
He has been mentored by former Australian batsman Shane Watson, who was impressed with how well the teenager has been coping. In the recent past, there were murmurs that Konstas had some issues with the balls that cut back into him, and Scott Boland would trouble him in a game. In the second innings, however, Konstas handled that particular delivery pretty well.
Watson was quoted by The Age as saying, “He’s a very quick learner, and facing Scott Boland in that four-day game, he’s so good, so accurate, asking questions every single ball,” Watson said. “All batters have a little weakness here and there, and the biggest challenge is clearing your mind and reacting to the ball coming down. So for Sam to learn and make that adjustment from innings to innings shows he is working through ‘why and how did I get out and what can I do to give myself the best chance’.”
Konstas had run into Watson by accident, when he saw the former opener bat at the Woollahra Oval nets a few years back. A chat ensued, and Watson took him under his wings. “He’s been my idol all my years watching him play. It’s just pretty crazy. Even talking to him gives me goosebumps just thinking about it,” he had told Fox Cricket, then. “He gives me so much advice. I’m like a sponge, trying to soak up as much information as I can.”
Konstas also has talked about his method at the crease. “Before the game I’ll meditate and visualise how I want to play,” Konstas had once told the reporters. “Then during the game, I’d do breathing techniques and have internal dialogue when I bat. I’ll say, ‘Where’s the ball, where’s the ball,’ and just control my breathing. I try to do that as long as I can.”
There is a photograph of Konstas from when he was just nine in the newspaper St George & Sutherland Shire Leader from 2015. His flowing hair is almost the same as it is now, peaking out from his cap, and so is the smile. He stands, holding his bat to his right, and beaming a lovely big smile. The same smile that he would flash after getting to his hundred against the Indians. The nine-year old’s ambition wasn’t that big that day: “I want to play at Hurstville Oval one day and for St George”.
A decade later, he is now about to walk in as an Australian opener on a Boxing Day Test against Jasprit Bumrah. The Pinter aka Greek Freak vs Indians – it promises to be a nice little battle.
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