Teen sensation Sam Konstas had the crowd in the palm of his hand at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Thursday as he smashed India spearhead Jasprit Bumrah around the park and got under the visitors' skin with a half-century on debut in the fourth Test.
In front of a huge crowd on a sweltering morning, the 19-year-old shrugged off a shoulder bump from an irked Virat Kohli and a barrage of invective from paceman Mohammed Siraj on the way to a memorable 60 in 65 balls.
Trapped lbw by Ravindra Jadeja after the second drinks break, Konstas trudged off with huge cheers and the third quickest half-century (50 from 52 balls) by an Australian test debutant behind Adam Gilchrist and Ashton Agar.
His dashing knock, laden with scoops, pulls and unrefined slogging, helped push Australia to 112 for one at lunch as the hosts took full advantage after captain Pat Cummins won the toss and chose to bat.
Opener Usman Khawaja was 38 not out, with number three Marnus Labuschagne on 12.
With 11 first class matches under his belt, Konstas replaced the dropped Nathan McSweeney and promised to keep things simple with a "see ball hit ball" approach in his first test.
Bumrah beat his bat four times in the first over before Konstas whipped two off his pads to get off the mark, triggering a roar from the crowd.
India's players sniggered when Konstas failed to put bat on ball with two botched ramp shots facing Bumrah but he wiped the smiles from their faces with a four, a six and another four with his next three efforts in the quick's fourth over.
Dancing down the wicket at Siraj, he swung and missed at a ball, prompting a long stare and some choice words from the fiery quick, who was booed by the crowd.
Konstas charged Siraj again on the next delivery to hit him for three.
He later edged Bumrah just short of a diving Kohli in the slips and the frustrated former India captain clashed with Konstas at the end of the 10th over, prompting Khawaja to step in to separate the pair.
Unruffled, Konstas smashed Bumrah for 18 runs in the next over before raising his fifty with two runs off Siraj.
The Indian quick then gained a small measure of revenge when he sent a delivery crashing into Konstas's crotch but the young batter recovered to linger for another six overs.
With the five-test series level at 1-1 after the Gabba test was drawn, India dropped number three Shubman Gill andpromoted similarly out-of-form skipper Rohit Sharma to the position.
Selectors sprung a surprise by adding all-rounder Washington Sundar as a second spin option rather than including another fast bowler.
Scott Boland replaced injured paceman Josh Hazlewood in Australia's 11, the fan favourite returning to the side for his second test of the series after bowling in Adelaide.
With the weather forecast for a scorching 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit), meteorologists have said the temperature could nudge record territory for the first day of the traditional Boxing Day test.
