'Unique' Smith eyes bigger batting changes in future

As someone whose idiosyncratic batting technique was questioned as potentially not suited to the conservative conformities of the Test match game when he began, it's easy to imagine Steve Smith revelling in the revolutionary approach of new teen teammate Sam Konstas.

But Smith, whose highly individual method hasn't become slave to convention and has now brought him 34 Test centuries (equal seventh in the game's history), revealed he could scarcely bring himself to watch Konstas' audacious approach to his Boxing Day debut.

As the 19-year-old was aiming high-risk reverse ramps, walking across his stumps to execute nerveless scoops over fine leg and charging down the pitch at India's new-ball attack, Smith was watching with pads strapped on, in a state of growing anxiety.

"I don't think much fazes the young kid," Smith said in the wake of his 140 that underpinned Australia's big first innings of 474 to which India finished day two 5-164 in reply.

"As we saw yesterday, he was reverse ramping Bumrah and I was having a heart attack up in the (viewing) box."

But if Smith was seen as something new-age batter prototype when he announced his prodigious talent more than a decade ago – with his ceaseless movement, endless fidgeting and pronounced trigger movements – he has witnessed first-hand how the craft has further evolved.

And after a decidedly modest stint as opener in the aftermath of David Warner's retirement last summer (averaging 28.5 across eight innings), Smith might well have marvelled at the way India's rising star Yashasvi Jaiswal went about the job in the current series opener at Perth.

Playing his first Test in the foreign surrounds of Australia's fastest, bounciest pitch, Jaiswal plundered 161 in India's second innings and took on all comers to hit the ball to corners of the ground where normally circumspect openers are not supposed to venture.

Rather than take time to find his feet on unfamiliar turf, the left-hander (who turns 23 tomorrow), relished the chance to take on Test cricket's most successful cohort of contemporary bowlers and even mock the fastest of them, Mitchell Starc, for "bowling too slow".

Jaiswal was at it again at the MCG today, melding some textbook drives down the ground with flourishes such as the brutal six he blasted back over the head of Australia allrounder Mitchell Marsh before being burned on 82 in a run-out calamity with Virat Kohli.

Konstas was even more brash in his debut innings on Boxing Day, showing apparent disdain for India's fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah who's had the measure of every other Australia batter bar Travis Head in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series to date.

The teenager then announced in his maiden media conference as a Test cricketer last night that – despite admittedly being a bit naïve – his bold method might just be the game's next incarnation.

"I reckon 20 or 30 years ago people were probably saying defend a lot, just bat all day," Konstas said.

"But I think new generation, new shots."

Smith, who at age 35 has witnessed the introduction and evolution of 20-over cricket in his playing lifetime, was somewhat bemused at his new teammate's pronouncement that what 87,000 fans at the MCG and millions around the world witnessed on Boxing Day is a taste of what's coming down the line.

"If that's the future, maybe it's time for me to finish," Smith laughed.

"You've got to have some serious courage to do what he did yesterday.

"That first over, Bumrah beat him three or four times and bowled some really nice balls.

"I actually thought he (Konstas) played them really well; he played down the line and they just did too much and they beat the outside edge.

"And then for a kid to have the confidence to start lapping and reverse lapping arguably one of the best bowlers that has played the game, shows some serious confidence and real courage.

"It swung momentum our way.

"You saw when he got picked that George (Bailey, selection panel chair) and 'Ron' (Andrew McDonald, men's team coach) said they wanted to see something different and show something different to the new ball.

"We certainly saw that and it worked out really well for us yesterday."

If seemingly fearless innovators the likes of Jaiswal and Konstas characterise the direction in which the once heavily prescriptive Test format is bound, they are clearly dragging next-generation bowling strategies along with them.

Despite having posted their highest first innings total in more than a year, and then snaring two of India's most experienced batters (skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul) inside 15 overs – the sight of an unperturbed Jaiswal caused a radical rethink of Australia's bowling plans.

The opener had passed 50 and, with the ball almost 35 overs and quickly losing its hardness on an increasingly benign pitch that offered few batting concerns, skipper Pat Cummins swung to 'the bouncer plan'.

That involved dropping three fielders into the deep on the leg side and stationing a couple of others in place for a top-edged pull shot as Cummins fired a series of short balls at the lithe left-hander.

It's a ploy captains of eras past would surely have baulked at after their team held such a marked scoreboard superiority (around 350 runs at that stage) but it was a nod to the realisation the likes of Jaiswal and Konstas aren't about to shut up shop and knock the ball around for gentle singles.

Smith had born painful witness to the sorts of random events that can unfold when a batter takes that approach, when his own innings ended through a self-inflicted wound earlier in the day.

Albeit with his second Test ton in three innings to his credit and Australia bound for a big tally, Smith took a leaf from his debutant opener's book as he danced down the pitch at India pace bowler Akash Deep and attempted to launch him over the leg side and bottom-edged the ball on to his pad.

From there it rebounded towards his unguarded wicket and Australia's second-most prolific Test century maker (after Ricky Ponting's 41) could do nothing but watch in anguish as it carried sufficient momentum to dislodge his leg bail.

While Konstas' reaction to the ungainly and unlikely dismissal is not yet publicly known, it's plausible the brash teen was thrilled to witness Smith's ultra-modern method rather than writhing in anxiety within the team viewing area.

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

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

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

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), 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