Aussie cricket great blasts decision to drop Sam Konstas from Sri Lanka series opener – as selectors open up on why the 19-year-old was omitted
Ricky Pointing has questioned why Australia’s selectors opted to omit rising young star Sam Konstas from the side’s opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.
Australia got off to a great start in the first innings on Wednesday, with Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja both hammering their way to a pair of centuries to bring up a score of 330-2 at the close of play on Day One.
Konstas, who had starred on his debut in last month’s Boxing Day Test, had been dropped entirely from the side, with Baggy Greens bosses opting to move Travis Head up the order to open alongside Khawaja.
Head would ultimately be dismissed by Prabath Jayasuriya after he was caught out by Dinesh Chandimal at long on for 57 runs.
Australia opted to make several changes to their line-up following their final match of the Border Gavaskar series, with Josh Inglis notably coming in for his Test debut.
But Ponting believes it was a mistake to leave 19-year-old Konstas out of the team.
Ricky Ponting has questioned the decision to drop Sam Konstas from Australia’s opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday
The cricket great claimed he did not like the decision and had expected the 19-year-old to open the batting
Konstas enjoyed an excellent debut at the MCG during the Border Gavaskar Series, hitting 60 runs in his first innings
‘I don’t like it, to be honest,’ the former Baggy Greens captain told Channel 7 during the match.
‘I just expected Konstas would play and would open the batting.’
During the summer series against India, Konstas stepped out to hit 60 at the MCG in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test, before going on to score 25 runs in Australia’s victory at the SCG a week later.
His personality and fearless batting style caught the eye of many pundits and cricket fans around the world, with the 19-year-old also notably clashing with India great Virat Kohli during the series.
Ponting, though, believes this would have been a great opportunity for Australia to learn more about the New South Wales batter, who clattered his way to a half-century in the Sydney Thunder’s recent Big Bash victory against the Perth Scorchers.
‘We have seen Travis Head open the batting in the subcontinent before and he did very well… no doubt he will get Australia off to a flyer,’ Ponting said.
‘But I think there is a real missed opportunity for the Australians to get to learn a bit more about Sam Konstas.
‘If he is the player we all think he is, I would have loved to have seen him work out a way to play spin in tough conditions in Sri Lanka over the next couple of weeks.’
Konstas has been in the nets in Sri Lanka this week with selectors chosing to let him acclimatise to the conditions in the subcontinent rather than pick him to play in the first Test
Konstas also delivered a brilliant response to not being picked this week, with Tony Dodemaide saying: ‘He was like: “Oh yeah mate, no stress. I get it”.’
Konstas, a fan favourite, offered a brilliant reaction to his omission and perhaps was very telling of the young star’s character.
When explaining the decision to drop the 19-year-old, Australia selector Tony Dodemaide revealed the eight-word response the Kogarah-born batsman gave him.
‘There’s a lot to like and be impressed about Sam,’ Dodemaide said on Wednesday.
‘One of the things is his ability to take things in his stride. It’s remarkable really, whether it’s playing in front of 90,000 and Jasprit Bumrah at the MCG or getting told that you’re left out of the Test.
‘He was like: “Oh yeah mate, no stress. I get it”.’
On why Konstas had been dropped for the opening Test against Sri Lanka, the selector explained that Australia had been hoping to end their 14-year wait for a victory in Sri Lanka.
‘We haven’t won here in 14 years and that’s a point of pride for everybody and also we hold every bilateral series at the moment and this group is very proud of that. So the starting point was we’re here to win the series,’ Dodemaide said.
‘The way we structured in India was very effective with Travis at the top and that’s where his value is. That created an opportunity lower down the order and Josh we felt has a very proactive game, a very skilful batter in his own right.
Dodemaide claimed that Konstas had little experience in the subcontinent and Australia were keen to get this series off to a good start
‘He’s also very busy, a disruptive player, he’s got options on both sides of the wicket, particularly against spin, he’s played a lot on the subcontinent as well, and we felt he deserved that opportunity.’
But given that this is Konstas’ first tour to the subcontinent, the selectors claimed that it made more sense to give Head the opportunity to open against Khawaja.
‘He hasn’t played a lot in this part of the world but he’ll learn quickly and the opportunity to have him here… it’s an investment in the future to spend time around Smith, Khawaja, Labuschagne and see how they go about it here.’
He added that Australian fans can expect to see more of him over the next few years.
‘We’re looking for those successor players to come in, there will be some turnover naturally in the next couple of years or so and he’s very much staked a claim.’
