The impact of Sam Konstas’s Test debut goes well beyond the 19-year-old’s audacious ramp shots and impressive first-innings 60.

Australian captain Pat Cummins has praised Konstas for his no-fear attitude, acknowledging the impact he had on his teammates during their epic Boxing Day Test win over India.

Konstas annoyed the Indians on day one, prompting a shoulder bump from Virat Kohli, and revved up the crowd at every opportunity while fielding.

Jasprit Bumrah had his revenge in the second innings, bowling Konstas for eight with a gem of a delivery, but the teenager’s debut was a major highlight of the Australian win.

Marnus Labuschagne has spoken of how watching Konstas bat in the first innings made him reconsider his attitude out in the middle.

Cummins said after Monday’s 184-run win that Konstas’s infectious spirit resonated throughout the Australian camp.

“It wasn’t just the runs he scored, it was the way he scored them. Uzzy (fellow opener Usman Khawaja) looked really fluent down the other end as well,” Cummins said.

“I think you see everyone else out there, being proactive. He set up that first morning for us, probably that whole day, that whole innings.

“It was tough; we chose to bat, but day one, the MCG always does something. (Him) taking on their main guys … everyone walked out there with a bit more intent.”

Cummins said it has been “great fun” having the teenager join the team.

“I’ve always felt like one of the younger guys in the team, and then seeing Sammy as a 19-year-old, geeing up the crowd, I feel quite old,” he said.

“He was unreal – the bravery he showed on day one … there’s a bit of process behind that – ‘I can hang around here and probably wait to nick a ball to the slip, or I can try to put some pressure back on the bowler and take the game on’.

“He has that no-fear mindset, which is amazing. We’ve really loved what he brought to the team. He’s had a great week.”

Meanwhile, David Warner has praised Sam Konstas’ audacious approach against Jasprit Bumrah and India, but questioned why a 19-year-old had to set the example for Australia’s top order.

Funky as it was, Konstas’ knock also attracted plenty of critics with his audacious ramp shots and decisions to charge down the deck.

The 34 runs he took off Bumrah in the opening session marked the most any player has ever scored against the Indian in one spell, and acted to unsettle the quick.

The innings also created a slipstream for Usman Khawaja’s first half-century of the series, while Marnus Labuschagne spoke of how it influenced his approach.

Bumrah still took nine wickets for the match, including Konstas’ when he beat him with a ball that jagged back between bat and pad in the second innings at the MCG.

Konstas’ arrival at the top is Australia’s most eye-catching since the likes of Phillip Hughes and Warner, whose natural tendencies were both to attack.

“It was very special,” Warner said.

“People are going to criticise him as well. That’s the nature of the beast, that’s the way he is going to play.

“When someone like Bumrah is bowling to you, you have to try and execute somehow.

“What he did in the Prime Minister’s XI shows he has that talent. But it also shows he is brave.”

Bumrah still looms as Australia’s biggest threat to regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a win or draw in Sydney.

Ten wickets at the SCG would put him level with Shane Warne’s 40 wickets from the 2005 Ashes as the most dismissals in one series this century.

India’s seamer has removed Khawaja five times this series, Travis Head and Nathan McSweeney four times, and Mitch Marsh and Steve Smith three times each.

His haul in Melbourne also made him the only bowler in history to have 200 wickets at an average of less than 20, with his ability to move the ball both ways and with such accuracy making him so dangerous.

“(Sam was) being brave at the top of the order, but you’ve got guys who have played 50 Tests, they could have been brave as well,” Warner said.

“They could have played different shots, they could have moved out of their crease and batted different. (Smith) Smudge tried a million different things.

“But it shouldn’t take someone to come out there and be brave to get that momentum shifting.

“You have experience at the top of the order, experience in that whole line-up. Travis Head took the game away from them in Adelaide with that magnificent hundred.

“It shouldn’t take that guy just to come and do that. It’s the way the Australians played but other people can be braver as well.”

Source: AAP