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Sam Konstas hopes to face Jasprit Bumrah and test himself against arguably the best in the world.
Sam Konstas hopes to face Jasprit Bumrah one day. (Image: X, AP)
The young Australian opening batter, Sam Konstas had put in an impressive performance during the practice game against India and the PM’s XI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. The 19-year-old opener scored a quickfire century, 107 in 97 balls against a potent Indian bowling attack.
The likes of Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep and Harshit Rana were among the pacers that were present in the Indian team. But the youngster expressed his desire to go up against India’s pace spearhead, Jasprit Bumrah.
Speaking to WA Today, Konstas was quoted saying, “I was watching quite a bit. Bumrah is a skilful player, obviously, and probably the best in the world. Hopefully, one day I can face him and see how we go. I feel confident. I’ve been training hard and it’s a great opportunity to play against the best players”.
Konstas has been coming up the ranks at a fairly rapid pace. He was part of the Australia U19 squad that won the U19 World Cup in 2024 and has also gone on to begin his domestic career for New South Wales in the Sheffield Shield.
His century against the Indian team has sparked suggestions that he could soon make the jump up to international cricket. The 19-year-old also credited the former Australia captain, Tim Paine for his suggestions which included maintaining positive intent and also going after the bowlers.
“I’ve been practising it a little bit with Time Paine, but yeah, good to get a few away. Tim just told us to have good intent and put pressure on them and treat it like a 46-over game. So I was just trying to keep things simple and just trying to stick to my plans,” he added.
With Australia’s top-order failing to step up, Konstas’ century knock could see himself as a possible solution to end the Aussie’s batting woes as the home side look to get back in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series with a win in Adelaide.
The Australian unit led by Pat Cummins will also be desperate to end their longstanding drought in the BGT series as they have not claimed the series for the past decade.
