Saunas and meditation: Konstas' edge for 'A' series, Ashes push

New South Wales coach Greg Shipperd insists Sam Konstas has returned from the West Indies with a lot more clarity about his batting and has backed the teenager to score "heavy runs" for his state in the lead up to the Ashes.

Konstas will miss the Blues' first match of the men's domestic season against Tasmania on Tuesday as he's with Australia A in India for two first-class matches, the first of which also begins tomorrow in Lucknow.

While runs against a strong India A side won't be as critical as big scores early in the Sheffield Shield season for Konstas when it comes to retaining his place to face England in Perth, they also won't hurt his chances of partnering Usman Khawaja in the first Test.

After enduring a tough three-Test tour of the West Indies where he scored just 50 runs in six innings, the 19-year-old bounced back in his first knock of the home summer with a 146-ball century in a pre-season practice match for NSW.

Shipperd said Konstas "wasn't on his own" in finding the Caribbean conditions difficult for batting against high-quality pace bowling and the veteran mentor had been impressed with the right-hander's approach since he returned home in July.

"We've had conversations around movement patterns and choices, and he's buying in," Shipperd told cricket.com.au.

"Really pleased with the way he's approaching pre-season. His work ethic is fantastic (and it's) just about bedding down his strategies and how he applies them going into the various formats that we're playing."

Last season Shipperd implored fans to stay patient with Konstas, who he said needed time to work his game out after a "unique start to his career" that saw him elevated to the Australian side for the biggest Test match on the calendar after only 12 first-class appearances.

The NSW coach was adamant Konstas' game stacked up at international level but he "got stuck into a process of not moving his feet" as much as his coaches would have liked against the Windies.

His century in the NSW City v Country practice match – which included six sixes – was a positive sign for the adjustments he'd made during pre-season training, Shipperd added.

"We have seen that clarity; more importantly, preparation is one thing but performance in matches is another," he said.

"His hundred the other day was a signal that he's getting on top of the strategy and the ability to mentally let that unfold was a really positive sign.

"Like all batters, it's not a win-win-win-win process. It's a win-fail-fail-fail-win process, so he's just got to balance those moments, and like all batters, learn from those experiences."

Shipperd told reporters today ahead of Blues' season opener: "He's done a lot of work on his back-foot play, on his front-foot play, about relaxing a little bit more at the crease, and we've seen really positive signs.

"His preparation has been first-class. I'm really confident he'll score some heavy runs for us in those four or so games for us before that international series begins."

Konstas has deleted the Instagram app from his phone and revealed he has been doing lots of meditating to help him avoid distractions as he focuses in on retaining his spot in the Test side.

He told cricket.com.au he's been regularly using a sauna to try and prepare his body for the oppressive Indian heat he'll encounter during the 'A' series.

"It's different conditions; obviously the turn, understanding the wickets and how to go about things (will be a challenge)," Konstas said.

"I was lucky enough to be on the Sri Lanka Test tour (in January) and understand what players do when it's extreme conditions compared to when the wickets are flat. Hopefully, I can incorporate that into the Aussie A tour.

"Every game that I play, I want to put my best foot forward. It's another huge honour representing Australia A – I'm looking forward to how our team goes and hopefully we can get the two wins."

Konstas added his experience against West Indies had taught him the importance of "finding another method" to try and score runs when conditions weren't in his favour.

"There's obviously going to be a lot of noise in the future of making certain teams and I'm lucky enough to connect with people that have had those experiences," he said.

"So just trying to make sure I don't get too fixated about the future and I'm trying to tick all the boxes I can to potentially represent my country again."

Australia A tour of India

India A four-day squad: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhimanyu Easwaran, Narayan Jagadeesan (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain, wk), Devdutt Padikkal, Harsh Dubey, Ayush Badoni, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Tanush Kotian, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Khaleel Ahmed, Manav Suthar, Yash Thakur. Second match only: KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj

Australia A four-day squad: Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jack Edwards, Campbell Kellaway, Sam Konstas, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Fergus O'Neill, Oliver Peake, Josh Philippe, Corey Rocchiccioli, Liam Scott, Henry Thornton. Second match only: Will Sutherland

September 16-19: First four-day match, Ekana Stadium, Lucknow, 3pm AEST

September 23-26: Second four-day match, Ekana Stadium, Lucknow, 3pm AEST

India A one-day squad (first match): Rajat Patidar (c), Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Riyan Parag, Ayush Badoni, Suryansh Shedge, Vipraj Nigam, Nishant Sindhu, Gurjapneet Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Porel (wk), Priyansh Arya, Simarjeet Singh

India A one-day squad (second and third matches): Tilak Varma (c), Rajat Patidar (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Riyan Parag, Ayush Badoni, Suryansh Shedge, Vipraj Nigam, Nishant Sindhu, Gurjapneet Singh, Yudhvir Singh, Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Porel (wk), Harshit Rana,  Arshdeep Singh

Australia A one-day squad: Cooper Connolly, Harry Dixon, Jack Edwards, Sam Elliott, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Mackenzie Harvey, Lachlan Hearne, Todd Murphy, Tanveer Sangha, Liam Scott, Lachie Shaw, Tom Straker, Will Sutherland, Henry Thornton

September 30: First one-day match, Green Park, Kanpur, 3pm AEST

October 3: Second one-day match, Green Park, Kanpur, 3pm AEST

October 5: Third one-day match, Green Park, Kanpur, 4pm AEDT