New Delhi, Jan 2
Former Australia captain Allan Border believes young opener Sam Konstas has all the attributes to be a long-term player for the national side and equated his flurry of breathtaking shots against Jasprit Bumrah in Melbourne to how Ian Botham used to unleash his strokes over the hosts’ bowlers.
Konstas scored 60 off 65 balls on debut in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, and scooped Bumrah for fun in the early passage of play, leaving everyone enthralled. Though Bumrah took him out in the second innings, Konstas has left everyone in Australia excited about the player he can be in the future.
"If you look at that first day, India really had no answer. All of a sudden he put it to them and they really had no answer to that batting. Traditionally you have the field up for the new ball, so what do you do? You start spreading the field.
"Having been through it with someone like Ian Botham – he didn’t do it all the time but every now and then he’d start whacking it – it’s very hard to get it right. What do you tell the bowler, what field do you set, it’s really difficult not to go on the defensive, and then once you do that, the opposition have got the momentum. It’s really difficult to combat.
"I’m a big wrap – only watched him play a few times, but he’s got a great technique when he needs to have one, and he also can play a lot of shots if he has to. So he’s got both games – he’s going to be a long-term player for sure," Border was quoted as saying by The Sydney Morning Herald.
The fifth Test, starting on Friday, could become witness to Steve Smith reaching a rare landmark in the longer format. He needs 38 runs to become the fourth Australian batter to reach the 10,000 Test runs.
Border was the first to reach there in January 1993, before overtaking Sunil Gavaskar to claim the world record for most runs in Tests, which was eventually broken by Brian Lara in 2005 and is now with Sachin Tendulkar.
"It’s a testimony to the hard work he’s put in. He’s not the bloke where you say to your son, ‘Here’s a technique you’ve got to follow,’ but it’s worked for him, and that’s a good sign that you know your game. He’s done it so well, because it’s not a technique for everyone. He’s in the top echelon. There’s prettier players, but not many who’ve got that record.
"Averaging 57 or so is in the top echelon ever, if you take one certain bloke (Bradman) out of it and he’s right up there with the very, very best. As far as Australia’s concerned, we’ve had Greg Chappell, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, those sorts of players.
"But now Steve (Smith) ranks equally with that group, no problems whatsoever. I’m a huge fan of Tendulkar and Lara; they were phenomenally good cricketers, but Steve is definitely up with that lot, for sure," concluded Border.