IND vs AUS Boxing Day Check day 1: Debutant Sam Konstas scores fifty as Australia attain 112/1 at lunch at MCG

Australian batsman Sam Konstas performs a shot on the primary day of the fourth cricket Check match between Australia and India on the Melbourne Cricket Floor (MCG) in Melbourne on December 26, 2024.
| Picture Credit score: AFP

Teenager Sam Konstas scored a quick-fire fifty on debut as Australia raced to 112 for 1 at lunch on the opening day of the Boxing Day Check right here on Thursday (December 26, 2024)

The 19-year-old debutant’s 60 off 65 balls included six fours and two sixes, each coming off Jasprit Bumrah, rattling the Indian tempo spearhead.

Konstas collected 16 runs off Bumrah’s fourth over as he smashed two fours and a most. It was the primary six the Indian pacer conceded in Check cricket in almost 4 years.

Nevertheless, Ravindra Jadeja put an finish to Konstas’ entertaining innings by trapping him leg earlier than within the twentieth over.

The sequence is levelled at 1-1.

Transient Scores:

Australia 112 for 1 in 25 overs (Sam Konstas 60, Usman Khawaja 38 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 1/20).

Earlier report:

Earlier, Australia captain Pat Cummins received the toss Thursday (December 26, 2024) and determined to bat first towards India in anticipated sizzling situations on the Melbourne Cricket Floor within the fourth check of the five-match sequence.

A crowd of over 90,000 was anticipated to attend the primary day of play, regardless of a predicted prime temperature of 39 levels Celsius (103 Fahrenheit).

Australia made two modifications to the aspect which dominated the drawn check in Brisbane. Seamer Scott Boland has been recalled for Josh Hazlewood, who suffered a calf-muscle pressure in Brisbane.

Teenager Sam Konstas changed struggling opener Nathan McSweeney, who averaged 14.40 in three assessments in his debut sequence. Konstas, 19, is the fourth-youngest Australian male debutant.

Australia coach Andrew McDonald mentioned Konstas would supply an attacking weapon towards the good tempo bowling of India’s Jasprit Bumrah, who has taken 21 wickets within the sequence.

Cummins, who was participant of the match on his check debut for Australia aged 18, added: “There’s a stage of naivety, that you simply simply need to exit and play, such as you did whenever you had been a child within the yard.”

Australia’s Travis Head, the main scorer within the sequence with 409 runs together with two centuries, handed a health check Wednesday after struggling a quadricep-muscle pressure in Brisbane.

India went with a bowler-heavy lineup, bringing in offspinner Washington Sundar so the guests have six bowling choices. Shubman Gill it out and captain Rohit Sharma has been named at No. 3 in India’s batting order after speak he would return to his customary place opening the batting.

India can take some confidence from its triumphs on its two earlier two check excursions of Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-2021, together with claiming victory in Melbourne on each events.

Nevertheless, aside from Okay.L. Rahul (235 runs at 47.00) and Bumrah (21 wickets at 10.90), India has been unable to construct momentum on this sequence. A 295-run win in Perth was adopted by a 10-wicket loss in Adelaide and the rain-soaked attract Brisbane.

The sequence has added significance as Australia and India are ranked second and third, respectively, behind South Africa within the race to qualify for the World Check Championship Closing to be held at Lord’s in June 2025. South Africa is internet hosting Pakistan in a two-test sequence that additionally begins Thursday.

The fifth and closing Australia-India check is scheduled to start out on Jan. 3 on the Sydney Cricket Floor.

Groups:

Australia: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Mitch Marsh, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins (captain), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

India:: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Okay.L. Rahul, Rohit Sharma (captain), Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep