‘Sam Konstas graciously brushed  it off’ – Cricket Australia CEO on debutant’s bump with Virat Kohli

Cricket Australia CEO on debutant’s bump with Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Cricket Aus and Disney+Hotstar)

Virat Kohli’s shoulder budge with debutant Sam Konstas was the highlight of Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The 19-year-old started remarkably well with the bat and smashed Jasprit Bumrah all around the park before bumping into Kohli after the 10th over. The India international was changing ends when the incident happened and Konstas didn’t like the budge and immediately called out Kohli.

The 36-year-old wasn’t shy to give it back to the youngster. Later, Usman Khawaja and on-field umpire David Gough separated the duo. After the end of the day’s play, Kohli admitted his mistake as he was fined 20% of his match fee and was handed one demerit point. Speaking on the same, Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley stated that there’s no room for physical altercation in the game and he was rather happy with how graciously Konstas dealt with the matter.

“Not a great look I mean you know physical contact on the cricket field is a complete no-no, so it wasn’t great. I think clearly Virat in accepting the charge has taken responsibility. I actually thought Sam showed maturity beyond his years and was actually very kind of gracious to brush it off. What it does is it highlights just the intensity of the competition but also just how much is at stake in this series but yeah not a great look,” Hockley said to SEN Radio.

Also Read – ‘It happens, it’s cricket’ – Sam Konstas on altercation with Virat Kohli

In the meantime, former cricketer Ricky Ponting wasn’t happy with the nature of the punishment as he believed that Kohli was let go easily. It added that it wasn’t harsh but Hockley didn’t want to speak on the matter and left the decision to the match officials. 

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“I think that’s for the for the officials. I’ve got a really experienced panel of officials here and the main thing is that kind of Virat has accepted the charge and taken responsibility,” Hockley said.