Mentor Watson on 'showman' Konstas: 'He's built for this stage'
Watson says the 19-year old’s adaptability to different conditions and India’s plans would be a “good test of his evolution”
Andrew McGlashan02-Jan-20252:11
Clarke: ‘Freakish’ debut for Konstas
Sam Konstas’ mentor Shane Watson has admitted the 19-year-old’s audacious start to Test cricket took even him by surprise, both in terms of the strokeplay and the way he carried himself in the field and with the crowd.Konstas scored 60 off 65 balls on the opening morning at the MCG, regularly scooping Jasprit Bumrah, and had a run-in with Virat Kohli who was fined for a shoulder barge. Later in the game he embraced the crowd when fielding on the boundary and was a vocal presence under the helmet, clearly getting under the skin of Yashasvi Jaiswal during the second innings.”I understood what his game plan was, what plan A was anyway,” Watson said as part of the ICC Champions Trophy tour at the SCG. “So when plan B sort of kicked in quite quickly, within a couple of overs, that was a little surprising. But the one thing that we’ve always talked about is trusting his gut.”Related
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While Watson was aware of the range of strokes Konstas had in his locker, even if showing them so early in Test was unexpected, he admitted the character shown in the field was not something he had seen before.”My experience of dealing and working with Sam has been a very quiet, reserved personality,” he said. “[He’s] a very deep thinker and certainly not an extrovert. But obviously what we saw in the Test match is that he absolutely is a showman. And he certainly rose to the occasion, as in he wasn’t overawed.”I know through my experience of debuting…you just put a lot of pressure on yourself because it’s your dream to be able to represent your country, wear the baggy green. But for Sam, it’s superhuman in a way that he sort of just didn’t have any of that at all. You can see it wasn’t put on. That’s just obviously who he is. And again, I hadn’t seen that side of him. It just shows that he’s built for this stage where most people it takes a bit of time to warm up to sort of get into that. Whereas Sam, he obviously just thrives on that.”Konstas has continued to enjoy the trappings of being a Test cricketer since arriving with the squad in Sydney, having photographs with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his fiancée Jodie Haydon during the annual New Year’s Day gathering at Kirribilli House. He also spent time chatting with Kohli, who his brothers took the opportunity to get a photograph with.Albanese joked about his role in Konstas’ rapid rise to the Test side after the century he scored against the Indians in Canberra. “Of course, he got his break in the Prime Minister’s XI [game],” Albanese said. “I’m claiming some of the credit, which is about my only contribution to national cricket.”Shane Watson on Konstas: ‘He’s certainly got all the gears and all the skills to be able to make adjustments’•Getty Images
On Friday, Konstas will become the youngest Australia men’s player to feature in a Test at his home ground of the SCG followed by the prospect of two Tests in vastly different conditions in Sri Lanka. India had already adjusted their tactics by the second innings in Melbourne where Konstas was kept quiet before being bowled by an inducker from Bumrah.”Look it’s going to be a different challenge for him now,” Watson said. “Because he’s shown what his plan B is. And we already saw in that second innings the field positions certainly changed. It’s going to be a good test of his evolution. To be able to continue to work through how he can take the game on against the best bowlers in the world. But he’s certainly got all the gears and all the skills to be able to make those adjustments quickly.”He is technically very correct and waits for loose balls. But he’s also got the other gears to be able to hit the ball down the ground. But when they do have third man fine and fine leg fine, the ramp shot is probably out. But you know what? I thought the ramp shot wasn’t going to come out in the first couple of overs, and it did. Sam will just trust what he feels and go with it. And that’s something very special that he taps into.”Australia captain Pat Cummins said there had been no instructions given to Konstas about how to go about his innings and believed he would be able to adjust to different scenarios.”Think he showed how adaptable he can be,” Cummins said. “That takes a lot of skill first of all, but we always encourage our players just to read the moment, play it how they see fit. For Sam he sensed the moment was to attack and put pressure back on the bowlers and he did that, it might be different this week; it might be ‘I’m going to play a slow game and kind of score runs that way’. Our message is always just to back yourself, have really clear plans and back your decision making.”