By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – India fought back with four late wickets to leave Australia on 311 for six on day one of the fourth test on Thursday after teen debutant Sam Konstas had lit up the Melbourne Cricket Ground with a thrilling knock in the morning.
Tempers rose in blazing heat in front of a bumper Boxing Day crowd of 87,242, with Virat Kohli booed by home fans after bumping shoulders with Konstas on the pitch after the 19-year-old smashed India’s bowlers around the park early on.
Konstas shrugged off the clash on the way to scoring 60 from 65 balls as Australia’s top order rewarded captain Pat Cummins’s decision to bat after he won the toss.
“It was quite surreal, obviously, with the big crowd, biggest crowd I’ve ever played in, and I feel like the boys welcomed me,” said Konstas, who has 11 first class matches under his belt.
“So just playing with that freedom and backing myself and lucky to get a few runs today. Obviously a bit disappointed with the way I got out, but hopefully we get a bit of momentum for tomorrow.”
It was left to Jasprit Bumrah to keep India in the fight, the pace spearhead bowling danger man Travis Head for a duck with the ageing ball and getting all-rounder Mitchell Marsh to nick behind for four.
Seamer Akash Deep later chipped in with the wicket of Alex Carey for 31, breaking a rapid, 53-run partnership with Steve Smith.
Smith was 68 not out, with tailender Cummins on eight.
Having sailed past 150 for the loss of one wicket, Australia were only narrowly ahead of the game by stumps.
Opener Usman Khawaja and number three Marnus Labuschagne both squandered chances for drought-breaking centuries.
Khawaja pulled Bumrah straight to KL Rahul at midwicket to be out for 57 before tea and Labuschagne was caught for 72 trying to slog all-rounder Washington Sundar over mid-off.
Labuschagne’s wicket ended an 83-run partnership with Smith as Australia lost three wickets for nine runs.
Konstas earlier had the crowd in the palm of his hand as he took to Bumrah with gusto and got under the visitors’ skin.
An irked Kohli bumped shoulders with him at the end of the 10th over and he shrugged off a barrage of invective from paceman Mohammed Siraj.
Trapped lbw by Ravindra Jadeja after the second drinks break, Konstas trudged off with huge cheers and the third quickest half-century (50 from 52 balls) by an Australian test debutant behind Adam Gilchrist and Ashton Agar.
‘SEE BALL HIT BALL’
Konstas, replacing the dropped Nathan McSweeney in the side, had promised to keep things simple with a “see ball hit ball” approach in his first test.
But Bumrah beat his bat four times in the first over before Konstas whipped two off his pads to get off the mark, triggering a roar from the crowd.
India’s players sniggered when Konstas failed to put bat on ball with two botched ramp shots against Bumrah but he wiped the smiles from their faces with a four, a six and another four with his next three efforts in the quick’s fourth over.
Dancing down the wicket at Siraj, he swung and missed at a ball, prompting a long stare and some choice words from the fiery quick, who was booed by the crowd.
Konstas charged Siraj again on the next delivery to hit him for three.
With the five-test series level at 1-1 after the Gabba test was drawn, India dropped Shubman Gill and listed out-of-form skipper Rohit Sharma at number three.
India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said Rohit would likely return to his traditional opening role, though, after scoring a total of 19 runs batting at six in the second and third tests.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
