Sunil Gavaskar was not impressed seeing what transpired between Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia at the MCG on Thursday. Kohli and Konstas were involved in a physical confrontation early in the opening session, with the former India captain shouldering the Aussie youngster. Whether it was intentional, no one knows, but going by the replays, Kohli may have initiated it to get inside the head of the 19-year-old opener making his Test debut.
In between overs, Konstas was walking towards his partner while Kohli, with the ball in hand, was changing his position on the field. On their way, the two collided, leading to a heated exchange. The umpires intervened, and even Usman Khawaja helped diffuse the matter, putting his arms around Kohli’s shoulders. The entire incident did not sit well with one-half of the originators of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, as Gavaskar called it uncalled for, and seemed pretty confident that punishment would be dished out at the end of the day’s play.
“Really, this can be avoidable. I mean, it’s like you are walking in a busy pedestrian street, and you see somebody coming at you, you just sway away. There’s nothing; it doesn’t make you smaller if you move away. That’s the thing. And you don’t want to see these things on the field. Definitely not,” Gavaskar said during the lunch break.
Expect some fines, says Gavaskar
“My first instinct, looking at it without seeing the replays, was that both were looking down, so they didn’t see each other coming. Konstas was looking at his bat; Kohli had the ball in his hand, and he was doing something. But with that footage, we’ll see who gets fined more this evening.”
Konstas made an electric debut for India, smashing 60 off 65 balls with six fours and two sixes. His assault on Jasprit Bumrah, the standout bowler of the series – was nothing less than a spectacle as he carted the India pacer for 14 runs in his third over. Konstas bludgeoned the Indian bowling attack left, right and centre, showing no mercy to either Bumrah or Mohammed Siraj.
Australia made the most of Konstas’ carnage, racing away to 112 by the lunch interval. Konstas eventually perished – out LBW to Ravindra Jadeja – but not before inflicting some real damage on India, who are trying to wrest back advantage in the ongoing BGT.
