The two of the senior players of India, the former captain of the side Virat Kohli and the premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, have been called out for their disgraceful act towards the 19-year-old debutant opening batter from Australia, Sam Konstas, during the five-match series in the recently concluded Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 down under.
The comments came days after the head coach of India, Gautam Gambhir, took a brutal swipe at the young opening batter for the altercation with Bumrah. The New South Wales batter made his debut in the red-ball format on Boxing Day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), where he smashed the vice-captain of India for regular boundaries.
That was followed by Kohli shouldering the right-handed opening batter and getting engaged in a heated altercation. The International Cricket Council (ICC) punished the Delhi-born batter with a 20% match fee besides giving him one demerit point in the course.
India’s Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah slammed by NSW coach
Towards the end of the opening day’s play in the fifth and final Test of the series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), the young batter tried to get into the skin of Bumrah by asking him to stop India from bowling an extra over. The Ahmedabad pacer, on the very next delivery, earned the wicket of Usman Khawaja and gave a fiery look at Sam.
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Greg Shipperd, the coach of New South Wales (NSW), criticized both the senior members of the blue brigade for their over-reactions as he backed Konstas to emulate the same aggressive batting during their upcoming two-match Test series in Sri Lanka.
“I don’t know if he thrives on it. I think it surprised him. I think it was a disgraceful act and should have been punished far more severely than it was.” Shipperd expressed when asked about the Bumrah altercation as quoted by News.com.au.
“He or the circumstance got under the skin of Jasprit, and the team response was super aggressive towards him. I think he’ll walk through that and look forward to his next opportunity in Sri Lanka.” Greg mentioned.
During the press conference at the end of the second day’s play, the head coach of Australia, Andre McDonald, remarked that India went a bit too far in their ‘intimidation’ at the youngster, which affected his mental health issue.
The head coach of the Indian side, Gautam Gambhir, was informed of the response of the home head coach at the end of the game, where he claimed that there was no scope to be soft besides reckoning that the batter had nothing to do between his senior opening partner and Bumrah, as it was up to the umpire to take the final call.
“Look, it’s a tough sport played by tough men. You can’t be that soft. That’s as simple as it can get. I don’t think anything was intimidating about it.” The former left-handed opener explained.
“He (Konstas) had no right to be talking to Jasprit Bumrah when Usman Khawaja was taking time. He had no right and no business to be involved with Jasprit Bumrah. That was a job for the umpire and for the guy who is batting at the (other) end.” Gautam Gambhir, India’s head coach, highlighted.
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Pat Cummins, the captain of Australia, however, was excited, with the performance of the youngster and is looking forward to seeing how he performs in the upcoming trips.
“I think more than just the runs that he brings to the game, it’s always a bit of added theatre, which is sometimes good, sometimes it can rile you up as an opposition, which I’m sure is part of his plans,” Cummins concluded.