Courtesy: Cricket Australia/X
On Thursday, December 26, the first day, i.e. the boxing day, of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) Test match, Australia gained the ascendency in the first innings after debutant Sam Konstas smashed an enterprising fifty at the top of the order against India. He and veteran opener Usman Khawaja shared an opening stand of 89 runs within the first 20 overs, to set up a perfect platform for the hosts to put a big score on the board.
After winning the toss, Australian captain Pat Cummins didn’t have any hesitation to bat first on a pitch which is expected to improve for batting as the day went on. Sam Konstas started cautiously in the first couple of overs before he unleashed a few reverse scoops out of nowhere, missing the first couple before in the seventh over of the Australian innings, he profited with a couple of fours and a six, to get his innings underway.
Watch the video of Sam Konstas' six against Jasprit Bumrah here:
While Sam Konstas took the aggressive route against all the Indian pacers, hitting six fours and two sixes, to score 60 runs off just 65 balls before being dismissed lbw on Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling, his opening partner Usman Khawaja gave him the strike regularly. The left-handed batter had a 65 runs stand for the second wicket with Marnus Labuschagne before losing his wicket on a short ball from Jasprit Bumrah for 57 off 121 with six fours in total.
After the completion of the first two sessions of the boxing day Test match in Melbourne, Australia had reached 176/2 in 53 overs with Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith at the crease.
Below are the playing XIs of Australia and India for the fourth BGT Test in Melbourne:
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Rohit Sharma (c), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
