Australian batsman Sam Konstas.
Credit: icc-cricket.com
Melbourne: Former Australia Test opener Chris Rogers and current team paceman Josh Hazlewood differed on whether 19-year-old New South Wales opener Sam Konstas should be picked for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India with experience of only six first-class games.
Konstas has played six Sheffield Shield games with twin centuries against South Australia (152 and 105) grabbing the attention of Cricket Australia's selection committee head George Bailey, who has picked him in the Australia A side for the opening match of a two-game four-day first-class series against India A at Mckay later this month.
Along with Konstas, 32-year-old Marcus Harris, who has previous experience of playing against India, and Nathan McSweeney are in contention for a place in the Test squad.
"I know there's a lot of talk about Konstas," Rogers told SEN Radio.
"I would just ask the question is he going to help win us this series, and if he's not, if we don't think he's going to make that much of a difference, I would just leave it for this summer just because going and facing India could set you back a little bit," Rogers added.
The senior Indian team is due to tour Australia for a five-match Test series starting November 22 in Perth.
Since Konstas has only played six games scoring 457 runs, Rogers feels that there is still some time before he is thrown into the deep end of the pool.
"And there's no rush, he's only 19, there's going to be a big future for him. Maybe a softer landing. I know some people won't agree with that, but I think to go up against India, you've got to be resilient, you've got to have things in order when it goes wrong, because they're going to challenge you hard.
"I would be looking for someone a little bit more established at the moment, and then in the future say we can look at something different," Rogers said.
However, Hazlewood, who has bowled to Konstas at the Australia nets, feels that he is ready for international cricket.
"I don't think anyone's too young," Hazlewood was quoted as saying by 'The Age'.
"A lot of the guys around here have played international cricket at quite a young age in different formats. I think for Test cricket, if you need to throw him in there, people play at a young age from time to time, not all the time.
"I'm sure he'll work it out if he gets thrown in there," Hazlewood asserted.