19-year-old Sam Konstas (73* off 128 balls) has proved once again why so many former cricketers in Australia are raving about him as he scored a well-compiled half-century to help Australia A beat India A by six wickets in the second unofficial Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday (November 9). Konstas' knock also helped his team clinch the two-match series 2-0.
Notably, Konstas' match-winning knock has made the selection debate for Usman Khawaja's opening partner for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy even more interesting. Konstas was the frontrunner to partner Khawaja in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after registering twin tons for New South Wales against South Australia in their Sheffield Shield opener last month.
However, his scores of 2, 43, 0 and 16 in his last four innings created doubts in the minds of several experts and former Australia Test captain Ricky Ponting also said that his time has not arrived yet.
Coming back to the game, India A posted a challenging total of 168 and had Australia A on the backfoot after Prasidh Krishna dismissed Test hopefuls, Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft on consecutive deliveries in his first over.
The early setback brought Konstas and Nathan McSweeney together in the middle and the pair added 46 for the third wicket to stabilise the innings. Mukesh Kumar dismissed McSweeney (25 runs off 69 balls) and Tanush Kotian removed Oliver Davies (21 runs off 22 balls) to give their team a glimmer of hope.
However, the duo of Beau Webster (46* off 66 balls) and Konstas put an end to those hopes with a 96-run unbeaten partnership for the fifth wicket and finished the run chase.
For India, Dhruv Jurel (80 and 68) and Prasidh Krishna (43 runs and six wickets) were the two players who impressed the most. Both players are a part of India's squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
