Eleven balls and one ramp shot. That was all it took for Sam Konstas to announce himself as one of the boldest Test cricketers in the world today.

In front of 87,000 people on Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the Border-Gavaskar series locked at 1-1, Konstas was awarded his Test debut aged 19. He was immediately given the most arduous task in the modern game: opening the batting against the mesmerising Jasprit Bumrah.

In his first over, Konstas played largely as his new teammates had against Bumrah, playing and missing four times. By the time of his 11th delivery, Konstas reasoned that a new approach – however brazen – was needed. All series long, Australia had played Bumrah conventionally, and failed conventionally too.

Now, Konstas embraced a very different approach. Confronted by another immaculate Bumrah delivery, which zoomed in on off-stump and then seamed away, he unfurled a reverse scoop. Konstas missed; the Melbourne crowd gasped like parents who had witnessed an embarrassing faux pas in the school play.

But Konstas was undeterred. He tried another reverse scoop off Bumrah; once again, he failed to connect with the ball, leading to audible guffaws in the Indian slip cordon.

In Bumrah’s fourth over, India’s laughter stopped. Konstas moved outside his off-stump and scooped through fine leg for four. Next ball, Konstas switched his hands around and made connection with a reverse scoop – this time, for six. Three balls later, an encore earned another four, and another standing ovation from a feral Melbourne crowd. For all that supporters appreciated Konstas’ debut 60, from just 65 balls, they appreciated his sheer chutzpah even more.

“I’ll look to keep targeting him,” Konstas breezily declared when asked about facing Bumrah when interviewed at the first drinks break, midway through his innings. “Hopefully he might come back on.”

The endearing audacity of youth? India evidently did not agree. Ten overs into Konstas’ innings, when he had reached 27, he walked over to partner Usman Khawaja. Before he reached Khawaja, Konstas felt a thud in his right shoulder: Virat Kohli had walked into him, and given him a shoulder barge.

The unsavoury incident, which cost Kohli 20 per cent of his match fee, was the first indication of Konstas riling India. Chirping from Indian fielders, especially Kohli, provided a constant soundtrack to Konstas’ innings; Bumrah took notable delight in dismissing him for eight in the second innings at Melbourne.

At the end of the first day of the final Test in Sydney last week, with the openers time-wasting to prevent an extra over from being bowled, Khawaja pulled out of a delivery against Bumrah; Konstas then exchanged words with the bowler.

Two balls later, Bumrah dismissed Khawaja – and celebrated, along with several teammates, by turning towards Konstas. Australia head coach Andrew McDonald complained that India were “intimidating” Konstas. Former captain Ricky Ponting had a very different view on his altercation with Bumrah, declaring “That was not his battle to fight”. Either way, Australia’s teenager was once again involved in a pulsating contest against the best bowler in the world.

Given the difficulties of opening against India on notably seam-friendly wickets, Konstas’ unremarkable haul of 113 runs at 28.2 in his first four Test innings constitute a success. Khawaja, the senior opener, averaged just 20.4; Nathan McSweeney, who was dropped for Konstas, averaged 14.4. Still, the adulation for Konstas transcends his promising Test start.

Gives balance to their batting order

Just as when a young Steve Waugh, Greg Chappell and even Victor Trumper and Don Bradman emerged, a nation craves freshness in their cricket team. It is not that Australia have not been winning; it is that they have been winning with the same old cast. While this cast are terrific cricketers, the public have been deprived of new faces: Konstas joined a team in which every other player is in their 30s. As much as they admire these men, many Australians have come to see them as, well, just a little boring.

From Dennis Lillee to David Hookes, Merv Hughes and Shane Warne, Australians traditionally have a penchant for cricketers with a larrikin edge. Yet in recent years, especially since David Warner retired 12 months ago, the Test side has become increasingly monochrome: a band of outstanding cricketers and decent men, to be sure, who lack the spikiness that has often been an Australian hallmark. The infatuation with Konstas, cocksure and compelling, reflects the hope that he will give Australia back something of this edge.

Already, this opportunity has been recognised by the media, eager to rev up interest in the national side. Being interviewed on the outfield one hour into their debut Test innings, and while it was still ongoing, was surely a piece of history made by Konstas. He might well become an outstanding cricketer; he already makes for outstanding content.

Still, the instantaneous feel of Konstas’ acclaim should not obscure the graft that has gone into making Australia’s 468th Test cricketer. Growing up in the Sydney suburbs, Konstas enjoyed a multi-sport upbringing typical of the idyllic Australian childhood.

He excelled at football and rugby league, but – unusually for those of Greek background – was most drawn to cricket. Together with his older brother Billy and twin Johnny, Sam was reared on a combination of backyard games and practise at St George’s, where Bradman and Ray Lindwall once played, just a few hundred metres away. In these games, the boys often played at being Kohli.

By the age of 13, Konstas was already playing grade cricket, competing against adults. He also secured a scholarship to Cranbrook School, one of Sydney’s most exclusive private schools.

There, Konstas honed a game that was very different to the array of scoops, reverse scoops and lofted drives that marked his first four Test match innings. “He was always a technically sound player growing up,” Tahmid Islam, who coached Konstat at Cranbrook, recently recalled. “He had the fundamentals of the game… He didn’t score very quickly growing up.”

Mentored by former all-rounder Shane Watson

But Konstas scored big. He holds the record for the most runs in the history of the Green Shield, the U-16 grade cricket competition in New South Wales, and opened in Australia’s U-19 World Cup victory in early 2024. In October, he scored twin centuries for New South Wales against South Australia, facing 465 deliveries across the match. Not since Ricky Ponting in 1993, has any Australian scored two hundreds in a first-class match while still in their teens.

These achievements reflect Konstas’ commitment to self-improvement – detectable not just in ferocious net sessions, or his dedication to bulking up in the past 18 months, but also in his focus on the psychology of the game. He has worked closely with Shane Watson, the former Australian cricketer, on mental conditioning in work that will be essential as international teams now dissect his technique.

“He is willing to do anything, everything he needs to be the best that he can, to shut out any distraction that might get in the way … not everyone’s like that,” Watson said recently. “He’s human as we all are, but he’s got a full handle on what he needs to do to be his best. I certainly wasn’t like that.”

Such a mindset means that Konstas came to see his assault on Bumrah as simply a pragmatic option, in which the rewards – both the runs on offer, and the way in which the boundaries led to fewer slip fielders – justified the risks. But a first-class strike rate of 54 illustrates a batsman as comfortable minimising risk in fertile batting conditions as attacking to upset bowlers’ equilibrium on tricky pitches.

Against India, Konstas was Australia’s very own Bazballer. Yet the focus on his array of ramps and reverse ramps ignores what Australians find even more thrilling: the notion that Konstas’ range evokes the country’s finest batting talents.