Pat Cummins has delivered the perfect message to Sam Konstas ahead of the 19-year-old’s Test debut for Australia in the Boxing Day Test against India. The 19-year-old Konstas will on Thursday become the youngest man to earn a baggy green cap since an 18-year-old Cummins made Test his debut against South Africa in 2011. Konstas has been called in to replace Nathan McSweeney after the opener was brutally dropped having played just three Tests.

It will be a baptism of fire for Konstas, who has been tasked with trying to find an answer to Indian quick Jasprit Bumrah, who has been the best bowler of the Border-Gavaskar series so far with 21 wickets at 10.90. Bumrah had the wood over McSweeney after removing the opener four times this series and the Aussies are hoping the more aggressive Konstas will fare better against the Indian spearhead.

With the series delicately poised at 1-1 heading into the fourth Test at the MCG, pressure is set to be intense on the inexperienced shoulders of Konstas. But Cummins says it’s precisely the fact that the opener is so young that means he has nothing to lose when he strolls out to the middle to face Bumrah and India’s attack.

Cummins knows from his own experience after taking 6-78 as an 18-year-old when he made his Test debut for Australia against South Africa at the Wanderers in 2011. And the Aussie skipper was quick to remind his young teammate that it was selectors who made the call to pick the 19-year-old and that he can’t be expected to come in and be the nation’s saviour.

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Pat Cummins takes pressure off Sam Konstas before Test debut

“I think you always want to do well (but) I was saying this to Sam the other day, I remember that as an 18-year-old, I was thinking I got a lot more leeway because I was young,” Cummins told reporters during Australia’s practice session on Christmas Day. “It almost felt like if I didn’t have a great game, it wasn’t my fault. It was the selectors’ fault for picking me. I was like, ‘Well, they’re the idiots who picked an 18-year-old.’

“You’re so young starting out your career (and) it’s Boxing Day. It doesn’t get any better than this, so just enjoy the moment.” Cummins says he’s been encouraging Konstas not to overthink things when he steps out to face India’s dangerous attack for the first time and has been encouraging the youngster to play his natural game.

“I just remember being really excited and I think, similar to Sammy this week, there’s a level of naivety that you just want to go out and play like you do when you’re a kid in the backyard,” Cummins added. “You just want to take the game on and have fun and… not overthink it. So that’s the message of Sam. That’s definitely how I felt as an 18-year-old. I was just really excited. And once the kind of game started, you go into game mode and it’s just like any other game.”

Konstas is one of two changes to the Australian XI that faced India in the washed-out third Test draw at the Gabba, with Scott Boland returning to his home ground at the MCG in place of the injured Josh Hazlewood. Boland wrote himself into cricket folklore after taking 6-7 during the Boxing Day Test against England in the 2021-22 Ashes series and has an impressive record on his home deck.

Boxing Day Test set to get underway in sizzling heat at MCG

Australia’s coach Andrew McDonald suggested that the MCG pitch has been a ‘bat-first’ wicket in recent years but a sizzling forecast of temperatures approaching 40C on Boxing Day might force a re-think. “It looks pretty similar to the previous few years,” McDonald said about the pitch. “It’s going to be a big decision, though, come the day of the game, I think, I think traditionally, it’s been bowl first, but with the heat around…it looks similar, but probably a little bit better than what I had some previous year. That’s a decision for the captains to make, I think.”

Cummins wasn’t prepared to give too much away but suggested that whatever way the toss goes on Thursday morning, his side will be ready to perform after facing hot and humid conditions at the Gabba. “The pitch looks really good. (It is) quite consistent to what it has been here for the last few years,” Cummins said. “(There’s a) bit of grass coverage and it feels nice and firm. They’ve done a great job here for… probably the last five to six years with their pitches and I suspect (it will be) the same this year.”

The Aussie skipper admits the heat will be a factor, suggesting Konstas could face his first ball in Test cricket on Thursday morning, if the Aussies win the toss. “(We’ll see) how the heat changes it (the pitch),” Cummins added. “We’ll get to the ground… and kind of assess it, but it looks like it is a good wicket. (We will) look at the pitch and get a bit of a sense of what the day is going to feel like, and then you kind of make a decision from there. So I think (the heat) is a factor.”