Both players immediately looked back for a heated exchange of words before Konstas’ starting partner Usman Khawaja and referee Michael Gough stepped in to break up the altercation.
Replays that emerged later in the session showed that Konstas had turned around from the crease after the last ball of the 10th over and was walking straight towards the other end, while Kohli, while bowling the ball in his hand, came straight from off the field. towards Konstas and collided with him.
“I think the emotions got to us both,” Konstas said later. channel 7 in the second session. “I didn’t fully realize it, I was putting on my gloves and then I did a little load on my shoulder, but it happens in cricket.”
“This long shot provided by the director is really interesting because it shows Virat Kohli changing his line to get into Sam Konstas’ personal space. Now, there is a clause within the ICC Code of Conduct that talks about inappropriate physical contact and that “It is the clause that the umpires and the umpire will examine today, at the close of play, to see whether Virat’s actions fall into that category or not and my suggestion would be that we will probably, looking at it seriously, more than Probably do something about it now.”
Konstas made his Test debut with an impressive half-century off just 52 balls, facing the best bowler of the series, Jasprit Bumrah, who had dismissed Nathan McSweeney four times in six innings in the first three Tests. Konstas replaced McSweeney for this Test and struggled to make 5 for 21 after being bowled several times before moving to 27 for 38 at the time of the altercation with Kohli. By then, he had reversed Bumrah for a six over the slips that had followed a more direct scoop that had given him four runs after crossing and lobbing the ball over wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
Konstas finished with 60 off 65 with six fours and two sixes, having scored 34 off 33 against Bumrah and 20 off 19 off Mohammed Siraj.
