NEW DELHI: The dramatic scenes on Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground were like watching a Bollywood thriller bringing viewers to the edge of their seats in anticipation of another electrifying moment. Sam Konstas‘s fiery debut put Bumrah through the unfamiliar — being hit for six with the red ball, before the show-stealing ‘action sequence’ involving Virat Kohli and the Australian teenager.
The 19-year old opening batter Konstas, brought into the side by Australia on the back of his century against the visitors in a warm-up game and following the failure of Nathan McSweeney, got under the skin of the Indian team with an attacking knock.
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It rattled India and led to unwarranted scenes of Kohli shoulder-barging Konstas, which match referee Andy Pycroft viewed as a breach of the ICC Code of Conduct for “inappropriate physical contact”. As a result, Kohli was fined and handed one demerit point for a Level 1 offence.
‘INDIA RATTLED’
Analysing the incident, former England spinner Monty Panesar feels that suspending Kohli for a first such offence would have been harsh, but if the Indian legend misbehaves again, he should be suspended.
“The fact is that this youngster rattled India,” said Panesar talking to Timesofindia.com from London. “It’s as simple as that. He threw punches at them, played a few shots, and they didn’t like it.”
“He played his reverse scoop shots and hit Jasprit Bumrah for a six over third-man, which, I think, hurt India’s ego. Then Kohli doing that, he obviously instigated it.”
Kohli is known to not take a backward step when it comes to expressing himself on the field and giving it back to the opposition. But Monty feels the batting icon took it a little bit too far on Thursday against a player who is 17 years younger to him.
“He’s a 19-year-old kid! It was unnecessary for him (Kohli) to do it. A lot of people obviously know the answer to that, but then I suppose that’s the nature he plays his cricket. He is aggressive, he’s intense. If he doesn’t like how the other team approaches, when they throw a punch back, that’s his way to react,” said Panesar, who played 50 Tests for England and took 167 wickets.
“But he (Konstas) didn’t care less. He thought ‘I am going to keep going with it’…If you go after the top bowlers, they don’t like it, and it was good to see the youngster choosing to stand up against a player of the stature of Virat Kohli.”
‘KOHLI WILL REGRET IT’
Konstas scored 60 off 65 balls before being dismissed lbw by Ravindra Jadeja. He added 89 runs with Usman Khawaja (57), which is Australia’s best opening stand of this Border Gavaskar Trophy. The five-Test series currently stands at 1-1.
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Monty feels Kohli will regret his actions looking back at the day’s play, but if he repeats such unwarranted behaviour again, he should be handed a suspension.
“He’ll probably regret it now, looking back at it when he’s a little bit cooler, looking back and thinking ‘well, he’s a guy who is 19 and I am one of the biggest superstars in cricket, and I am shoulder-barging him. Why did I have to do that?'” Monty said.
“I suppose for him to be suspended for behaviour like that is probably a little bit harsh. He obviously deliberately shoulder-barged Konstas, and he didn’t need to do it,” the 42-year-old former left-arm spinner said. “If he does it again, and he misbehaves in the second innings, they (India) go after him (Konstas), then yeah, obviously give him a suspension because first time is a warning, second time suspension.
“…You won’t see Cristiano Ronaldo do anything like that; you won’t see some of the other big superstars, when there’s a youngster making his debut, do that. But good on him (Konstas), good to stand up because they were trying to intimidate him, trying to bully him by Virat Kohli barging him (so that) he goes into his shell or gets out. But he didn’t. He took them on. Hit them out of the ground, him them everywhere. That’s what you want to do,” Monty added.
Panesar, who had Sachin Tendulkar as his first Test wicket, concluded by saying that Konstas took the right approach in his first international knock by fighting fire with fire, which is the way to tackle the “aggressive” Indian team.
“You’ve got to respond like that to this Indian team because they are very intense, very aggressive; and if they come hard at you, you’ve got to come back harder as well. You can’t sit down, and it’s good to see that the 19-year-old stood up,” said the Indian-origin player, who has roots in Punjab.
India ended the first day of the Melbourne Test on a better note after Australia’s top four scored a half-century each following the home team’s decision to bat first.
From 240 for 3, Australia stuttered their way to 311 for 6 at close of play, with Steven Smith batting on 68 and skipper Pat Cummins on 8.
Bumrah was once again the pick of the Indian bowlers with his figures of 3 for 75. Akash Deep, Jadeja and Washington Sundar took one wicket each.
