New Delhi, Dec 2 Former Australia fast bowler Damien Fleming believes young batter Sam Konstas has strengthened his reputation by hitting a century for the Prime Minister’s XI against India in the pink-ball game on Sunday, adding that he’s confident of him playing soon for the national side if Marnus Labuschagne fails to find form.
In the 50-over pink-ball warm-up game at the Manuka Oval, Konstas looked solid in his stroke-play while smashing 107 off 96 balls against an Indian bowling attack comprising Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar and Ravindra Jadeja. Konstas had earlier made 73 not out against India A at the MCG last month.
"What I love about what Sam did yesterday was he enhanced his reputation and that's all you can do. That was brilliant from him. He's going to play, it's just a matter of when whether it's this summer or not.
"My feeling was an Aussie fan and commentator is that he doesn't play this summer because everyone else scores a lot of runs. But a failure for someone like Marnus means I can see Konstas coming straight in for him," said Fleming on SEN Radio.
Australia will play the second Test against India in a day-night affair at the Adelaide Oval, starting on December 6. With Australia 1-0 behind in the five-match series after losing at Perth by 295 runs, Fleming thinks the top-order is their biggest issue, especially with Labuschagne out of form and usual number three batter Nathan McSweeney opening the batting.
"My worry with this Australian team is that there's not too many batsmen that are unlucky not to be in that Australian team, which is a shame. You want to have three or four batsmen that are unlucky and just banging down the door.
"I worry about our top three. I can't see how you can be a dominant nation over a long period of time without having the engine room – as Langer, Hayden and Ponting would call themselves – absolutely rock solid.
"You need two of the three scoring runs in every innings and for me, Usman’s probably the only real opener in this team. With, Nathan McSweeney, I hope he proves us wrong, and I definitely always saw him as a Test match player potentially, but I saw him probably more as a number four as a Steven Smith replacement,' he concluded.
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