Referee Andy Pycroft of the International Cricket Council (ICC) may have made his report on the Kohli-Konastas incident on Day 1 of the 4th Test in Melbourne, but the Australian newspapers will not be caught up in it. Kohli has had a run-in with the Aussie opener as he was apparently intentionally barged into by the India star. It gets plenty of reaction, on the field and off it, from numerous past cricketers sharing their views on the subject. But it looked like such matters would be forgotten after the match referee’s announcement, and the Australian media wasn’t quite satisfied by the news that the India star would be fined only a small 20 percent of his match fees and earn one demerit point.
Calls intensified on Kohli to at least hand him one-match suspension after the incident went trending on social media. But the punishment from the match referee was one demerit point, along with a fine that he believed must serve strong enough. But, the Australian insult crossed the line by calling Kohli ‘a clown’ and inferring him from his insulting article on their Friday morning newspapers.
The West Australian humiliated India’s former captain with the headline-‘Clown Kohli.’ Kohli, in fact, was termed sook (crybaby or coward) for his act.
Konsta’s highly awaited debut in Australia foray turns out to be one of the best for a long line of debuts; the 19-year-old made headlines not only through toying Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and scoring 34 of his 60 runs against him but also for sharing some fiery words with the young man after bumping him all in making a direct physical shoulder-to-shoulder contact. The argument brought a 20% fine of his match fee from the International Cricket Council (ICC) and also one demerit point on the player’s head for getting involved in this mess with a 36-year-old.
Speaking to ANI on the incident, BCCI President Roger Binny said, “I didn’t see the incident (Virat Kohli-Sam Konstas incident); but these kinds of things happen on the cricket ground. You have to accept it and carry on. See that the game goes on. That is important.”
After the game in the post-day presser, Konstas simply mentioned that Virat bumped him by accident. “I was just adjusting my gloves, and I think he accidentally bumped me. But I think that is just cricket, just the tension” he said.
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