Australia v India Fourth Test, Day Three Report Card

Featuring babysitting Sam Konstas, Rishabh Pant's batting, won't be enforced follow-on marks and loud environment notifications

Babysitting Sam Konstas
Grade: C

The first player we saw as we arrived at the MCG, about half an hour before play was due to begin and while ups were being warmed, was Sam Konstas, running around the MCG, pretending to be a fire engine.

Around and around the little fella went, weaving in and out of his team mates, making siren sounds with his mouth.

After he did that for a bit, he asked Nathan Lyon if he wanted to see a magic trick, before sloppily palming a coin that Lyon pretended not to see.

After giggling with delight at getting one over on ‘Uncle Goat’, Sam then asked for a triple scoop ice cream cone! Uh-oh! Always risky, but he was delighted in the moment, getting it all over his face as he greedily licked away at it.

Next thing we knew, Sam had somehow found a trampoline and was bouncing as high as he could, screaming ‘look at me!’ at Travis Head, who gave him a weary nod. (Oh, and there went one of the ice cream scoops.)

Andrew McDonald then gave Sam a time out so he could calm down a bit. (McDonald also took the opportunity to wipe his chocolate ice-cream-covered face, which Sam scrunched up in irritation, doing his lip curl thing as he tried to pull away.)

Shortly after, Sam was a dinosaur, sneaking up on Mitchell Starc, who pretended to be terrified when the terrifying Konstasaurus attacked him.

But, alas, after all that activity, it was time for the team huddle. Sam didn’t want to go and plonked his bottom on the ground and folded his arms in defiance. Alex Carey came over to try to softly reason with him, but to no avail, which meant that big Mitchell Marsh just scooped him up under one arm and carried him away, comically asking in a loud voice over and over, ‘has anybody seen Sammy?’, while ignoring Sam’s shouted replies of ‘I’m right here!’ and ‘I’m under your arm!’.

There was an awkward moment at the end of the huddle when Sam accidentally called Pat Cummins ‘Dad’, but that quickly passed, and the youngster ran out to the middle of the MCG with his team mates, over to cover point, where he immediately started playing with his digger.

What did you spot Sam Konstas doing before play? Here are some others from BlueSky (big thanks to Beth, Tim and Matt for spotting these three).

Rishabh Pant’s Batting
Grade: B+

Of course, we hadn’t come to the MCG to watch Konstas charge wildly around the ground. We’d come to watch him bat later in the day against Jasprit Bumrah.

First, however, we’d come to see Rishabh Pant bat. Because the man is a delight. Sure, he and Ravindra Jadeja set the day’s tone for running between wickets early, suicidally dithering between wickets on multiple occasions. But that’s all part of The Pant Experience™.

Luckily for the pair, it’s a known fact that no Australian (male) fielder has hit the stumps on a run out chance since roughly 2011. (The women’s side don’t suffer from the same problem, which does raise the prospect of the men getting a substitute Phoebe Litchfielder in at some point.)

But if Pant wasn’t going to run himself out, he instead decided to somersault himself out instead, following up a missed rolling scoop with a mishit rolling scoop that flew to Lyon at fine leg.

Pant, you magnificent lunatic! If you must be out, denying me a chance to watch you blast a proper score, then that’s precisely how I want you to go.

Won’t Be Enforced Follow-On Marks
Grade: D

Jadeja followed soon after, and Australia seemed on the brink of being given the opportunity to not enforce the follow-on.

Instead, Washington Sundar joined Nitish Kumar Reddy and the pair serenely saw their team past not just the won’t-be-enforced-follow-on mark but to India’s highest first innings score of the series. Each Test, India have scored more and more runs in the first innings. Australia have done the same thing, steadily improving their first innings tallies as well. This bodes well for a drawn Sydney Test (also, because it invariably rains throughout the entire bloody thing), which means that this current Test will effectively decide the series.

All of which made the partnership even more impressive.

Nevertheless, enough was enough. You’ve batted through the middle session brilliantly, lads, and kept the Test and series interesting. Thanks for that. But now it was time for a wicket. Need I remind you that I came to see Bumrah bowling to Konstas? (Although, at that point, Konstas bowling to Bumrah would also have been acceptable.)

Loud Environment Notifications
Grade: A