Fearless Konstas reveals plans that helped him quell India's quicks

By Jonathan Healy at the MCG

Teenage debutant Sam Konstas has admitted he played with no fear when taking apart India's potent pace attack in a superb display of attacking batting on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

Konstas overcame a nervy start against Jasprit Bumrah and Co to score an impressive half-century on debut on the biggest day of Australia's cricket calendar on Thursday that helped put his side in a strong position at 311/6 at stumps in the crucial fourth ICC World Test Championship contest.

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It was a brash approach that Konstas used against India's bevy of quality quicks and one that paid off in spades as he smashed six fours and two massive sixes when producing shots that have rarely been seen during the opening hour on the first day of a Test match.

And while Konstas admitted many of his audacious scoops, ramps and front-foot pull shots were pre-mediated, the confident 19-year-old revealed the thought of failing on Test debut had never entered his mind as he strode to the crease in front of 87,000 fans at the MCG.

"I always like to go out first and assert my dominance in a way and try to earn the crease,” Konstas said after play.

"I told (Usman Khawaja) it was straight away I'm facing first ball and he's so good to bat with, very calm and relaxed and just time to trust my instincts and back my game.

"The boys and (skipper) Pat Cummins have been really good to me, just saying, be myself and I'm here for a reason because I'm scoring runs, so I felt that was the right moment today to do it and yeah, it paid off.

"I think it probably will look silly if I do get out, but I worked pretty hard on that (ramp) shot and I feel like it's probably a safe shot for me really.

"But I think that's the beauty about being young, it may be a bit naive but I'm just trying to put pressure back on the bowlers, that's the best way I think and I did today and it was good to get a few runs."

Konstas suggested he won't change his approach in the future and expects many of the next generation of Test stars will follow his lead.

"I reckon maybe 20 or 30 years ago people were probably saying defend a lot and just bat all day," Konstas said.

"But I think new generation, there are new shots and it's exciting for me obviously as I like doing that and putting pressure back on the bowlers and hopefully it pays off in the next innings."

While Konstas' tactics may have surprised a few teams, India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said his side was expecting this approach from the young right-hander as they saw him in full flow during a contest against the Prime Minister's XI at the start of the month when he scored a superb century in Canberra.

"We saw him when we played the PM XI game prior to that as well, he got a hundred against us then as well. We knew what we were up against," he said.

"It was refreshing to see someone come and play good cricket, whether that’s in our team or the opposition. It’s not something that surprised us, we did expect (it), and we obviously saw a lot of videos and we watched him practice as well.

"So we had an understanding that those are his strengths, they may be different from someone else’s. It’s always pleasing to the eye when it works."