I'm ready: Young gun Konstas eager to take next step

Teen sensation Sam Konstas says he is up for the challenge of playing Test cricket this summer, believing he is in the right headspace to debut for Australia.

Konstas catapulted back into the spotlight on Sunday when he smashed a 90-ball century against a Test-level Indian attack, albeit missing Jasprit Bumrah, for the Prime Minister's XI in Canberra.

The runs showed the 19-year-old is clearly a step above, with only one other batter in the PM's XI top order scoring more than five.

Konstas has been the talk of the summer since October, when he became the youngest player to score twin tons in a Sheffield Shield match since Ricky Ponting.

The right-hander's runs dried up somewhat after that, before he hit an unbeaten 73 for Australia A against India A at the MCG last month.

Nathan McSweeney ultimately won the race to start the Test summer as Usman Khawaja's opening partner, but Australia's side is far from set in stone.

Konstas will face his next toughest test in the Shield this week, against a Western Australian attack expected to feature the likes of Lance Morris and Joel Paris.

Teenage debutants are rare for Australia, with Ashton Agar the last male to do so in 2013.

Asked if he felt he needed more time scoring runs in domestic cricket rather than getting an immediate call up, Konstas said it was a case of the latter.

"I really want the chance, I love being challenged and hopefully that can happen soon," Konstas said.

"I feel like I'm in a good headspace. It's been the best few months I've had, and hopefully one day I can represent my country.

"For me, it's focusing about Friday and then trying to score runs to put myself forward. It would be a huge honour to represent my country one day."

Konstas has already earned plenty of plaudits on his rise this summer.

His mentor Shane Watson, potential Sydney Thunder opening partner David Warner and Steve Smith are among those to congratulate him on his runs.

But blocking out the hype has been easy for Konstas.

The U19s World Cup winner spent most of his teens without social media, only signing up to it in recent months in order to promote sponsors.

He is also a keen meditator before games, and moves quickly to the wicket in a statement of intent at the start of his innings.

"I don't get too fazed about (the hype)," Konstas said

"It's about being in the present and being the best version of myself, and then hopefully let the result take care of itself."

Likewise, Konstas said he had not been too down about missing out on Test selection for the start of the summer.

"I feel like it's all part of the journey," he said.

"Unfortunately I didn't get the runs that I would have liked.

"But I've been reflecting on how I could have done better and challenging how they got me out and tactics they used."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal