Amid the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 December, a shoulder-bumping incident between Indian star Virat Kohli and Australian debutant Sam Konstas on Day 1 upset legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
Both Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas were involved in a physical confrontation early in the opening session, that created a debate among the fans, critics and former cricketers.
What exactly happened:
On the opening session of Day 1 of 4th Test, Konstas was walking towards his partner Usman Khawaja. As Kohli, with the ball in hand, was changing his position on the field collided with 19-year-old opener and this led to a heated exchange between the two. Following this, both the umpires and Khwaja intervened, and the helped diffuse the matter.
What Sunil Gavaskar said?
The whole incident did not go well with Sunil Gavaskar who opined it as uncalled for. He was of the opinion 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,” HT quoted Gavaskar as saying during the lunch break.
“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,” he added.
Kohli fined?
According to ICC, Virat Kohli has escaped ban, but has been handed one demerit point and fined 20 per cent of his match fees.
“Virat Kohli has been fined 20 percent of his match fee and awarded one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct, ” said the ICC.
The ICC furtehr noted that no formal hearing was needed as Kohli accepted the sanctions propsed by Match Referee Andy Pycroft. On-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid and fourth umpire Shawn Craig levelled the charge.
According to ICC’s Code of Conduct, Article 2.12 reads, “Any form of inappropriate physical contact is prohibited in cricket. Without limitation, players will breach this regulation if they deliberately, recklessly and/or negligently walk or run into or shoulder another player or umpire.”
India vs Australia, 4th Test, Day 1:
On Day 1 at Stumps, after electing to bat first, Australia scored 311 runs off 6 wickets in 86 overs. Marnus Labuschagne scored 72 runs, Steven Smith remained unbeaten at 68, debutant Sam Konstas hit 60 runs and Usman Khwaja scored 57 runs for Australia.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah picked three wickets, while Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar clinched one wicket each.
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