9th over: Australia 37-0 (Konstas 20, Khawaja 16) Change in the field for the bouncer, Bumrah to Konstas. Deep square leg, deep fine leg, deep third set quite fine. Two slips, gully, point. Konstas is clueless to the ball cutting in, but it goes too far to leg before hitting his pad. Then he edges on just short of slip! Kohli diving across can’t get it. Skews a single through square leg and gets off strike.

Bumrah’s first crack at Khawaja and he immediately goes past the left-hander’s edge. But Khawaja gets the last ball of the over off his pads for four, behind square. Nicely timed.

8th over: Australia 32-0 (Konstas 20, Khawaja 12) Still digesting this. Bumrah’s over went for 14. It’s not like he was collared though. I wouldn’t say that Konstas hit any of those scoop shots flush, or that it seems a viable long-term strategy. But he’s shaken things up.

Khawaja pulls three more from Siraj, Konstas gets one off an inside edge, Khawaja drives two. Runs flowing.

7th over: Australia 26-0 (Konstas 19, Khawaja 7) Finally, Konstas connects with his scoop shot! Not completely cleanly, it takes the inside portion and goes much straighter than intended, over the keeper more than fine leg. And it trickles to the rope rather than racing. But he does get four.

And goes again! For six! That one is cleaner, and it’s a reverse. Absurd shot. Bumrah has had enough and goes for the yorker. It’s a pretty good one, tailing in at off stump. But Konstas is either expecting it, or is fast enough to adapt. He gets in position, has the bat down for the full pitch, then seeing the line, falls with his body towards the leg side rather than continuing to the off, and opens the face to hit it very fine over deep third. It carries the rope by a few inches.

Third ball, charges and tries to flat bat through cover, misses. Fourth ball, leaves.

Fifth ball, plays the same reverse scoop to another full ball, and it lands just short of the rope. Replay says four, not six.

This is utterly absurd.

6th over: Australia 12-0 (Konstas 5, Khawaja 7) Siraj to Khawaja, across him. It’s been a tale of two battles so far, all of Khawaja down one end and Konstas down the other. Khawaja has soft hands as he runs one into the gully, no score. Finally the ends change, as Khawaja pulls without timing it, clunking three through square, and Kinstas will face Siraj for the first time. Smashes his pad first ball. Was there an inside edge? Guess not, the ball lands with the cordon. Konstas follows up with a huge charge and swing! Baseball style, aimed nowhere and everywhere, and fresh air again. Siraj doesn’t much enjoy that audacity, and has some words. The big screen flashes a close-up of him speaking and the crowd immediately razzes him. But Konstas gets a score to follow, three runs through square leg on the flick. Australia double their score that over.

5th over: Australia 6-0 (Konstas 2, Khawaja 4) The Bumrah-Konstas show resumes, and the new guy tries the scoop again! This ball was even less the one for it, fuller but wide of the off stump. The bat is nowhere near it. Rohit chuckles, Kohli just shakes his head in mild disapproval. You can’t bat like that after two career runs, buddy, he seems to be thinking. Bumrah ends the over by nearly bursting through, taking a sliver of bat onto the other player’s foot.

4th over: Australia 6-0 (Konstas 2, Khawaja 4) What do you know – an incorrect review with Siraj’s encouragement. The ball does bend in to the left-hander and smash Khawaja on the pad, but it’s near the knee roll and he’s on the march towards the bowler. Always going over, but India burn one early to see the green light. Siraj at least turned to the umpire eventually, after running down level with the batsman first.

Then swings one down leg side, and Khawaja gets a little inside feather on it to fine leg for four.

3rd over: Australia 2-0 (Konstas 2, Khawaja 0) Huge ovation for Konstas with his first Test runs, getting a straighter ball from Bumrah that he can stab off his pads through square leg for two. Then plays a very clunky forward defence and gets bat on ball again. Bumrah could be bowling fuller, everything so far is over the stumps. He’s enjoying the contest though, smiling at Konstas every couple of balls, as if to say, I can work you out, young feller.

So Konstas plays the scoop! Eleventh ball of his Test career, against the best quick in the world. And misses. The ball goes over his off bail. A bit fuller…

Bumrah walks back chuckling and shaking his head. And last ball of the over, beats him again!

2nd over: Australia 0-0 (Konstas 0, Khawaja 0) Now then, India need quality from the other end. Some support for Bumrah. It did start to come in Brisbane, before the last-day rain. Siraj with the new Kooka, and he does beat Khawaja with a good one, Khawaja playing on the top as he has done so often while getting out this series. And again, fourth ball, sparring, kangaroo style, bounce and movement. Khawaja survives the over.

1st over: Australia 0-0 (Konstas 0, Khawaja 0) There’s a real good lip curl from Konstas on the close-up cam, waiting for Bumrah. The crowd hushes in anticipation… and sighs as he leaves the ball. A big jerky action, shouldering arms over the top of the ball and pulling his bat around to face back down the pitch.

Plays and misses at the next one, a pearler that goes away off the pitch. Bumrah doing heaps early. Draws another leave third ball, but the fourth and the fifth are lovely. Beaten, beaten again, both times drawing Konstas into the defensive shot before seaming past the edge. Perfect seam position, upright then scrambling away.

And the sixth ball same again! Just misses the edge. Bumrah excited, but doesn’t go through with his appeal. Didn’t bowl an in-ducker in that over, I wonder if he’s going for an extended setup.

Konstas beats Khawaja to the middle by about 150 metres. Runs out there and regards the pitch. The young and the old.

Anthems go around the ground. We’re not full yet, but well on the way to full. Mitch Starc has had a haircut. Boland has too. Marsh and Konstas have not, by the looks. The Torres Strait and Aboriginal flags fly on poles between the larger Australian and Indian national flags, which are held flat like bedsheets ready to be folded. Done, away we go.

Teams

Weather report from the ground: it is already hot out there, but it’s currently cloudy. So that’s some measure of relief at least. I suspect it will burn away soon, although there’s also a chance of rain in the forecast and a cool change later. The whole Melbourne grab-bag. I’ll tell you what is certain: Indian support. My word, the crowd outside is at least half wearing blue India shirts. Huge lines on the way in.

Australia win the toss and will bat

Drop us a post-Christmas cheerio

Here’s our lead-in piece on Konstas and his forerunner, Ricky Ponting.

The biggest news for Australia is the debut of young sensation Sam Konstas to open the batting. Huge challenge for him, especially if he’s called upon immediately. Although that would give him less time to get nervous, I suppose. He seems pretty confident, but walking out in front of 90,000 would have to challenge any teenage bravado.

Scott Boland is coming back for Australia replacing the injured Josh Hazlewood. Not sure what India will do yet, they always play their cards close and always seem to make a change somewhere along the line.

Preamble