Don’t think Sam Konstas will survive as Test opener playing like that: Ricky Ponting

Ricky Ponting and Sam Konstas (Source: Philip Brown/Popperfoto/Popperfoto via Getty Images and Santanu Banik/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

The fans during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy witnessed some great performances by some young players in the squad. One of the youngsters who surprised the Indian team during the series was 19-year-old Sam Konstas. The youngster introduced himself in style during the five-match Test series during the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

The teenage sensation scored a quick-fire 60 from just 65 deliveries in the fourth Test at the ‘G’ which consisted of six fours and two sixes. Such a thunderous start got all the experts talking about what his future in the game could be going forward. Former Australia skipper and three-time world champion Ricky Ponting had some interesting words to share about the young batter, where he mentioned that he still has a lot to learn and might not gain as much success playing the way he has been so far.

“I don’t think he can survive as a Test opening batsman playing like that all the time. So he will learn a lot from the first couple of games that he played as a batsman, but just as an international sportsman as well, I think he’ll learn a lot. It’s a big stage, and he really enjoyed it at the MCG,” Ricky Ponting said on the ICC Review show.

“I’ve seen this happen a lot with young players. They come in, they get overawed by everything a little bit, and it takes them a few games or a few series just to actually work out who they are and who they need to be successful international players,” he added.

Also Read: ‘He flustered India, there’s no doubt about that’ – Ravi Shastri offers bold statement on Konstas

Konstas might have not been able to replicate the same performance in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test and ended the series with 113 runs with an average of 28.25.

He will have another opportunity in red-ball cricket as he was picked in the squad to play against Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series, which will be led by Steven Smith, as regular skipper Pat Cummins has demanded for a repose. Both the Tests of the upcoming series will be played in Galle.