Meet the real Sam Konstas: the teen phenom set for a $225k pay rise after stunning series debut

The cricket world has been introduced to Australia’s new teen star – a swashbuckling opener with boundless confidence. But the version seen this series has confused those who know him best. So who is the real Sam Konstas?

Teenage prodigy Sam Konstas will receive a $225,000 payrise simply by walking on the field for the first Test in Sri Lanka later this month.

One more Test would automatically bump Konstas up to a Cricket Australia central contract worth $346,641 and he would receive back pay for the difference between that upgraded deal and his current minimum level state contract at NSW.

Before long CA will then announce its contract list for the coming year in March, and at this stage it’s difficult to see Konstas not being handed a new deal which would also have him eligible to earn a six-figure bonus from cricket’s marketing pool.

Konstas still lives at home with his parents in suburban Hurstville in Sydney’s south, but outside the refuge of those four walls, his life is set to change immeasurably after taking the cricket world by storm, at a time when most 19-year-old’s are working part-time and studying or starting a trade.

Sam Konstas walks out to bat during the Sydney Test. Picture: Getty

So who is the real Sam Konstas?

We still don’t really know.

The most fascinating thing about his hurricane arrival to Australian sporting stardom is that those close to Konstas are as shocked as anyone by how it has played out.

They say the talented kid they’ve come to know is in fact a very quiet, reserved personality off the field and not the extravert who relished his heated run-ins with Indian cricket royalty.

Officials at Cricket NSW and his grade club Sutherland also insist they’ve barely seen him play a ramp shot in his red ball rise to Test cricket and that they were taken aback by his audacious batting in Melbourne and Sydney.

Was Konstas deliberately cranking up the risk-taking as a specific strategy to negate the fact he was facing a fast bowling legend in Jasprit Bumrah, or is this his natural game?

Konstas (L) wowed crowds with his inventive strokes. Picture: AFP

Either way, one thing is for certain.

Australia must back Konstas in for the rest of this year come hell or high water and invest in him fully both on the field and off the field in the lead-up to next summer’s Ashes.

It will be good for Konstas to go off Broadway to Sri Lanka and have a reset of sorts following his whirlwind past fortnight, away from the intoxicating high-pressure situation of a Border-Gavaskar Trophy series.

Making a Test debut in the circumstances Konstas did in front of 90,000 people on Boxing Day with the series on the line, and then backing it up in front of friends and family at a sold out SCG at home in Sydney is a massive load on a 19-year-old by anyone’s estimations.

Konstas will learn plenty in Sri Lanka simply from being around the Test team in a less high-stakes environment to the one he walked into.

He can finally take a deep breath.

Sam Konstas has made an electrifying entrance to Test cricket. Photo: Tom Parrish

A World Test Championship final at Lord’s against South Africa in June will give him another taste of the big time, and then three Tests in the West Indies will provide the perfect low-key – but still top level – preparation for a date with destiny against England in a home Ashes.

Australia has rallied around Konstas after he attracted headlines over his heated run-in with Bumrah and the Indians in the last over of day one at the SCG.

Captain Pat Cummins warned people should not make assumptions about Konstas’ on-field behaviour and said the teenager’s confidence should be admired not knocked out of him.

“I’ve been really impressed with how he’s gone about it. I think people mistake a bit of confidence for bullying or abuse,“ Cummins said.

Konstas and captain Pat Cummins celebrate Australia’s Boxing Day Test victory. Picture: Getty

“You’re allowed to walk around with your shoulders puffed back and play a few cricket shots. “I don’t think that’s illegal, but some people really take offence to that and want to put him pack in his place.

“We say the same to all our players, just bring yourself every day, be yourself, go about it how you think represents yourself the best and how you want to play. I think he’s been really good this series. He’s stood up for himself when he needed to.”

Opening partner Usman Khawaja – a man twice his age – described Konstas on the ABC as the most arrogant yet endearing person he’s ever met.

Coach Andrew McDonald said rather than have a word to Konstas about initiating the war-of-words with Bumrah that led to Indian players getting in his face on day one, he was concerned for the young man’s wellbeing.

There’s no doubt there are some lessons to be learnt for Konstas in refining his approach both at the crease and in the heat of battle, but should that really a surprise? He’s a 19-year-old kid.

This is a good time for everyone to take a deep breath and remember these are only the first steps of a long journey.

Originally published as Meet the real Sam Konstas: the teen phenom set for a $225k pay rise after stunning series debut