The fourth test match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy has started in Melbourne and on the very first day of the match, fans got to witness some animated scenes from the middle as the Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and the Australian debutant Sam Konstas exchanged few words. The incident occurred when Virat Kohli bumped into Konstas after the 10th over, sparking a verbal clash.
The former Australian captain and legendary batter Ricky Ponting criticised Virat Kohli for his involvement in a heated exchange with the young Australian opener during the first day of the fourth India-Australia Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Commenting on the altercation, Ponting said during his commentary stint that Virat came down a whole pitch’s width towards his right to start the conflict and he (Ponting) has no doubt about it that Virat did it intentionally.
He added that the umpires and match referee would likely review the incident, pointing out that fielders should avoid interfering with batsmen in such situations. Ponting also suggested that Konstas seemed unaware of Kohli’s presence and implied Kohli might face questions about his actions.
Here is the video:
https://x.com/7Cricket/status/1872082193352151188
Click to watch this video directly on X
At the time of the incident, Konstas was batting on 27 runs off 38 balls. The clash seemed to fire him up, as he scored 18 runs in the very next over bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, smashing two fours and a six. Sam Konstas went on to play an aggressive innings, eventually scoring 60 runs off 65 balls, including six fours and two sixes. Remarkably, by hitting two sixes off Bumrah, Konstas became only the second player after Jos Buttler to achieve this feat in a single Test innings against the bowler.
The 19 years old right-hander, who became the second youngest Australian to score a fifty in Test cricket, shared an 89-run opening partnership with Usman Khawaja, who made 57. Konstas’s impressive knock ended in the 20th over when he was dismissed by Ravindra Jadeja.
Australia ended the first day at the score of 311/6 with Steve Smith (68*) and Pat Cummins (8*) at the crease.
