Boxing Day Test: At 19, can Sam Konstas be the answer to Aussie opening woes?

While the Indian cricket media has been training its guns on India's top order, and rightly so, Australia is not exactly in a comfortable space in that zone either. Three Tests down the line of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, and the hosts are still looking for a potential replacement for David Warner, bringing in unheralded 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas in place of an off-colour Nathan McSweeney.

The squad named for the final two Tests on Friday features the right-hander who looks very much in line to be the youngest Test debutant for the Aussies in the last 70 years, ahead of current skipper Pat Cummins who was 18 years and 193 days old when he took his bow against South Africa in Johannesburg in 2011.

It seems a just reward for the New South Wales youngster’s twin Sheffield Shield centuries, alongside an unbeaten 73 against India A at the MCG ahead of the BGT. He further bolstered his case with a century (107) in the Prime Minister’s XI pink-ball match against India in Canberra.

The young opener’s first class statistics are equally noteworthy. In 11 matches, Konstas has scored 718 runs at an average of 42.23, including two centuries and three half-centuries. “Sam earns his first call-up to the Test squad. His style of batting offers a point of difference, and we look forward to seeing his game develop further,” selection committee chairman George Bailey said as justification.

However, the move is being viewed more as an act of desperation as Australia’s highest opening partnership in the series has produced a mere 31 runs, in Adelaide.

McSweeney (25), who made his Test debut in the series opener in Perth despite being essentially a no. 3 batter, managed scores of 10, 0, 39, 10 not out, 9 and 4 in his six innings — with Jasprit Bumrah having the measure of him on most occasions. He seemed the most convenient name to go under the chopping block even though none of the three top-order batters for the hosts have scored over total of a hundred runs in the series.

Marnus Labuschagne, who has been a shadow of his normal consistent self since his emergence, has cobbled together a highest of 82, of which 64 came in a single innings in Adelaide. Senior batter Usman Khawaja has scored only 63 runs so far and has struggled against Bumrah, but Bailey revealed that there was no consideration of removing him from the 19-member squad.

The move has not really gone down with a section of former greats, who are concerned at the lack of available depth in batting talent in the country. In a Facebook post, Len Pascoe, once the new ball partner of Dennis Lillee, said: ‘’Selectors have a lot to answer (for). They burnt Renshaw, Harris, Bancroft and McSweeney. I hope they don’t ruin Konstas — yet they give chance after chance to the older guys. When shield cricket is demolished this is what you get.’’

While McSweeney’s repeated failures in all six innings had certainly weakened his case, the Australian media had been talking up his chances as a prospective future captain. Asked whether the selectors would be patient with Konstas, who brings an aggressive intent into his batting, Bailey was ambiguous.   

‘’You always hope to (keep faith in Konstas). Going back to the first point I made, the one thing you are constantly getting is new information, respecting a series or a tournament happens to be at whenever that player is in there. In an ideal world, you are getting individual performance and team performance which allows you to give those players time to grow," he added.