Who is Sam Konstas, AUS PM XI opener who cracked a Blering 100 in 90 balls in pink-ball practice match against India?
19-year-old Sam Konstas stunned the Indian bowling attack on Sunday as he waltzed to a blering hundred in the pink-ball practice game for Australia Prime Miner’s XI at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
Konstas has been in the news of late, having been in contention with fellow youngster Nathan McSweeney for a spot in Australia’s Border-Gavaskar Trophy squad before being pipped the latter. As Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne have not had the best form, McSweeney did not have the best international debut as he scored 10 and 0 in the first and second innings against India while facing Jasprit Bumrah in both innings. And Marnus Labuschagne has been performing well in the past 2 years, in the Perth test series he was two of his 52nd deliveries, and he was locked and had a strike rate of 3.84 making it the slowest knock in Test hory an Australian top-order batsman.
Born on October 2, 2005, the right-hander Konstas is a batter who holds a lot of promise in the Australian cricket circle. He has recently drawn notice for his outstanding domestic cricket performances and has featured for both the Australia under-19 squad and New South Wales.
However, it would be an unprecedented selection in contemporary Australian cricket if the 19-year-old is chosen for the upcoming Test matches against India. With his twin hundreds in the opening Sheffield Shield game for NSW against South Australia, Konstas became the youngest player to accomplish the feat on a Shield game since the great Ricky Ponting in 1993.
Konstas was included in the Australia under-19 team’s roster for a July 2023 tour to England, where they would play the England under-19 cricket team. In November 2023, he made his first-class debut against Tasmania. Konstas inked his first professional contract with the Sydney Thunder in December 2023. Konstas was also added to the Australian team for the 2024 Under-19 Cricket World Cup later that month. He scored 108 from 121 balls to get a century against the West Indies
