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The incident took place at the end of the 10th over of Australia’s first innings of the ongoing Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Ricky Ponting slams Virat Kohli for shouldering Sam Konstas. (Picture Credit: Screengrab)
Former Australian men’s cricket team captain and legendary batter Ricky Ponting slammed Virat Kohli for his role in a heated exchange with young Australian opening batter Sam Konstas on Thursday. Kohli was engaged in a verbal battle with Konstas during the morning session of Day 1’s play of the ongoing fourth India-Australia Test, which is currently underway at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The incident took place after Kohli shouldered young Konstas at the end of the 10th over.
Reacting to the incident where Kohli shouldered Konstas, Ponting, while speaking on Channel 7 during his commentary stint, said, “Have a look where Virat walks. Virat’s walked one whole pitch over to his right and instigated that confrontation. No doubt in my mind whatsoever.”
“I have no doubt that the umpires and the referee will have a good look at that. Fielders should be nowhere near the batsman at that stage. Every fieldsman on the ground knows where the batsmen will congregate and get together.
“It looked to me that Konstas looked up really late; he wouldn’t even know anyone was in front of him. That man on-screen there (Kohli) might have a few questions to answer,” he added.
Konstas, who was batting on 27 runs from 38 balls at that time, changed the gears after the incident, and in the next over of Australia’s innings, which was bowled by Jasprit Bumrah, he scored a total of 18 runs with the help of two fours and one six.
During his stay at the crease on Thursday, Konstas faced a total of 65 balls, and with the help of six fours and two sixes, he scored 60 runs. The 19-year-old right-handed batter took an aggressive approach against Bumrah and scored 4 fours and 2 sixes against him. By scoring two sixes against Bumrah, Konstas added his name to the history books as he became only the second player after Jos Buttler to score multiple maximums against Bumrah in an innings of a Test match.
Konstas, who became the second youngest Aussie to score fifty in Test cricket on Thursday, added 89 for the first wicket with Usman Khawaja (57) before being sent back to the pavilion by Ravindra Jadeja on the second ball of the 20th over.
