[PICTURES/VIDEO] ICC fines Virat Kohli but avoids ban for shoulder bumping Sam Konstas [Post Updated #82]

From now on, batters should keep their bats around their chests. If Kohli wants to deliberately bump, he can bump into bat and get injured.

:qdkcheeky
 
There is no match to the Australian media when it comes to taking digs.

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Virat Kohli appears to have put his conflict with Sam Konstas behind him, as the Indian cricket star was spotted posing with the Australian teenager's brothers at an event hosted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday. Kohli had previously been fined 20 percent of his match fee and given a demerit point for the altercation with Konstas. However, with this latest display of sportsmanship, Kohli has once again gained admiration from the cricket community by setting aside the on-field tensions and warmly posing for photos with Konstas' brother.

 
Sunil Gavaskar criticised Virat Kohli's on-field antics during the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. According to the former India cricketer, Kohli put his team under additional pressure with his actions:

"What Kohli did with the shoulder bump is simply not cricket. Indians are not shy to retaliate if provoked, but here the provocation was simply not there. The one thing that players learn with experience is that it’s futile to try and get back at the crowds, who have come to have a good time, so booing players is never personal but just a way to entertain themselves. To react to that doesn’t do the player any good, and does more harm,"

"Kohli must understand that whatever he does to react to the crowd actually puts more pressure on his teammates, who also then become targets of the spectators. With his continued failures to avoid nibbling at the deliveries around the off-stump, he failed to make the contribution that could have boosted the total,"
 
Australian sensation Sam Konstas has opened up on the “holy crap” moment in his Test debut, while also lifting the lid on clashes with Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah in a fiery Border-Gavaskar series

Speaking to CODE Sports in a wide-ranging interview, the 19-year-old — who put India’s bowlers on notice with a stunning Boxing Day half-century on debut — conceded it was “surreal” to be at the crease in front of a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground crowd.

“It was my first time playing in front of 90,000 people on day one at the MCG and I was like, ‘holy crap, this is surreal,” Konstas said.

“Playing against legends of the game like Kohli and Bumrah and playing with legends like Steve Smith and Pat Cummins, it is what I’ve dreamt of as a kid and I was just trying to soak up every second of it really.

“I’m very fortunate as a 19-year-old to be getting that experience and learning from the best.”

Konstas, who was involved in a heated back and forth with Bumrah and his Indian teammates in Sydney, admitted that “at stages” the emotions of the occasion got to him “a bit”.

“I loved every second of it but there’s great learnings to be had and reflect on and hopefully in future tours I can learn from that,” he said.

While Konstas wasn’t exactly popular with the Indian camp, he quickly became a fan favourite in Australia and was captured signing autographs and posing for selfies in the days after his scintillating debut.

“I feel like I want to be a humble person and someone who is giving back to the game,” Konstas said.

“I want to try and sign all the autographs for kids and take photos and things like that. I want to be known off the field as being a nice person.”

On that note, while Konstas had every reason to avoid Kohli after the Indian superstar bumped him in Melbourne, the 19-year-old revealed he actually sought him out.

“I had a little chat after the game telling him that I idolise him, and it’s obviously a huge honour playing against him,” Konstas said.

“When I did verse him, I was like, ‘wow, Virat Kohli is batting.’ He just had that presence about him, all the Indian crowd getting amongst it. Chanting his name. It was quite surreal.

“He was very down to earth. A lovely person and just wishing me all the best saying hopefully I go well on the tour of Sri Lanka he said if I’m in.

“My whole family loves Virat. I’ve idolised him from a young age and he’s a legend of the game.”

Of course, Kohli was not the only India player to clash with Konstas, with the 19-year-old also exchanging words with Bumrah in a fiery incident during the Sydney Test which prompted Australian coach Andrew McDonald to call out India’s “intimidating” celebrations.

Konstas said all he told Bumrah was that Khawaja was not ready to face up, but again added he learned his lesson from the incident.

“I feel like I love being in the contest and trying to put my best foot forward,” Konstas said.

“I feel like it’s probably a good learning for me. I was trying to waste a little bit of time there so they didn’t get another over. But he (Bumrah) had the last laugh.

“Obviously he is world class and he took, what, 32 wickets in the series.

“If that happened again, maybe I wouldn’t have said anything.”

 
Aaron Finch, Kohli's former RCB teammate and ex-Australian white-ball captain, shared his thoughts while speaking to a sports media outlet:

"It was just a level of frustration. I said last week it seemed as though he wanted to find conflict and confrontation – that's where he generally plays his best cricket. So he just went overboard on this tour."

"The bump, that was above and beyond anything I've seen on a field, and then the sandpaper, unnecessary. But overall, I think he was trying to find something to ignite a fire in himself, but just wasn't up to it."
 
Aaron Finch, Kohli's former RCB teammate and ex-Australian white-ball captain, shared his thoughts while speaking to a sports media outlet:

"It was just a level of frustration. I said last week it seemed as though he wanted to find conflict and confrontation – that's where he generally plays his best cricket. So he just went overboard on this tour."

"The bump, that was above and beyond anything I've seen on a field, and then the sandpaper, unnecessary. But overall, I think he was trying to find something to ignite a fire in himself, but just wasn't up to it."
Yes. Kohli deliberately picks a fight to brings out a fire in himself. But you cannot fight the age, poor reflex, judgement no matter how much "passion" you have. If anything you have to be calmer as you get older. That has a better chance of producing result. Just jumping up and down will get you into the contest while fielding not while batting where you need concentration at this age.
 
Former England fast bowler Steve Harmison, while speaking on a podcast:

"What happened with Kohli there – Kohli was bang out of order. Virat Kohli should have been banned for what he did. You know how much I love Virat Kohli and what he has done for the game, but there’s a line, and you do not cross it.”

“Sam has got the scoops, he’s got the big shots. But does he have the defensive technique for Test match cricket against the world’s best? That’s something he needs to figure out. If he gets it right, he has a great chance because he can be aggressive and has a good mindset for attacking the ball. But I just think he wants to be David Warner, and technically, he’s nowhere near as good as Warner.”

“If he’s opening the batting against England, I’d be happy. I really would. But he’s only 19, and he’s going to improve. However, if he continues to be aggressive verbally, he’ll face consequences. India is one thing, but the Ashes – with all the pressure it brings – is another level entirely. I’ve no issue with him having a go at India; he tried to rile them up because they were wasting time, and India got Khawaja out and won. But the Ashes will be a different challenge,”
 
Kohli should have been banned for a test at least. It'd have surely brightened our chances in the SCG test.
 
He'd have been knocked out in no time. Forget Symonds and Hayden, the coward will not even try it with someone like Smith or any other senior player.
Indian players are cowards as we saw Harbhajan in the monkey gate scandal. You need a badmash like Akhtar or Waqar to take on the Aussies not meek wannabe bullies like Kholi, Harbhajan, Ganguly
 
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