When the 19-year-old debutant opening batter for Australia, Sam Konstas, made his debut on the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against India in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, all of the fans, the Australian players, Indians, and most importantly, the premier pacer of the blue brigade, Jasprit Bumrah, was stunned at the reverse lap from the opener.
The night before the start of the game, Sam Konstas discussed with his childhood coach, Tahmid Islam, and the former reckoned that he would only play the scoop against Bumrah after he reached 150. Well, he didn’t wait for that much, and after missing a few early scoops, the youngster forwarded the plans.
The Prime Bank Cricket Club, the team in a short stint in the Dhaka Premier League a few years ago, saw these two meeting each other. The news of Tahmid being the batting coach of Konstas has made the headlines in Bangladesh.
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“We were having dinner the night before when he told me that the plan was to only scoop once he got to 150. It wasn’t part of the plan (to play the shot so early). But he is someone that plays on instinct. He plays with a lot of freedom.” The 29-year-old batting coach expressed while giving the interview on Zoom.
“He (Sam Konstas) doesn’t think of the consequences of what people are going to say if he gets it wrong. I think it is his biggest skill and asset. Whereas loads of players think about the consequences like ‘what if I fail doing it‘ or ‘what if I get out playing it‘ or ‘the media and coaching staff will have a go at me‘.” Tahmid highlighted.
Tahmid Islam paints out the growth of Sam Konstas
The class of Bumrah hasn’t pushed many of the Australian batters going after him. Steve Smith, the classical batter for the home side for a long time, nearly had a heart attack watching Sam Konstas bat in that way on the opening hour of the Test.
The youngster had a try of the shot but could not be able to get the meat of it at the start but later, he scooped the Ahmedabad-born for a boundary and over-boundary before nailing him down the ground for another six.
“Sam is quite assured in his game. After playing and missing six times in his first ten or 12 balls, he thought that the best way to put pressure on Bumrah was to try to put him off his length. He (Sam Konstas) threw a different challenge at Bumrah, which was good for Sam. It shell-shocked India. They weren’t expecting a 19-year-old to come out and play with that sort of freedom.” Tahmid Islam reckoned.
The childhood coach of the debutant opening batter, Sam Konstas, first took up the coaching when he was playing in the Yorkshire Premier League in 2013. He met the batter when the latter was 14 at the Cranbrook School.
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He narrated the story of how they formulated the future plan of Konstas’ batting with his father, with the involvement of Shane Watson, with whom he worked in Major League Cricket (MLC) for San Francisco Unicorns.
“Sam Konstas is someone that plays on instinct. He plays with a lot of freedom. He doesn’t think of the consequences of what people are going to say if he gets it wrong. I was having dinner with his dad one night. We had some Greek food, which is their heritage. I put together a bit of a Programme for him to try to target for the next phase of his life, which was to play Under-16s cricket in the New South Wales (NSW) system.” The childhood coach concluded.