India stalwart Virat Kohli clashed with Australia’s 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas early on Day 1 of the fourth Test in Melbourne. During the ninth over, the duo shoulder-barged into each other, prompting Kohli to turn back and give Konstas a glaring look, as well as exchange a few words. Despite former Australia captain Ricky Ponting suggesting that Kohli was in the wrong, the 36-year-old escaped without a ban, instead only being fined 20 per cent of his match fees by the International Cricket Council (ICC), as per sources to NDTV. Now Ravi Shastri – who shared a good bond with Kohli during his time as head coach of Team India – has given his say on the matter.
“It’s unnecessary. Totally unnecessary. You don’t want to see that. Virat’s a senior player, he’s been captain of the side, he’ll have his own explanations regarding that, but it’s something you don’t want to see,” Shastri said, speaking on Fox Cricket.
Virat Kohli collision with Sam Konstas ‘totally unnecessary’ says Ravi Shastri
Ravi Shastri not holding back pic.twitter.com/JPKnoA1hBA
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“One person who will be all over it, though, is Andy Pycroft,” Shastri added with a chuckle.
Pycroft is the ICC match referee for the Boxing Day Test, which is incidentally also his 100th Test match as a match referee.
As it turned out, Kohli was let off with a slap on the wrist, with the ICC considering it a Level 1 offence. Kohli has been fined 20 per cent of his match fees according to sources to NDTV, the same penalty handed to Mohammed Siraj after the second Test in Adelaide following his fiery send-off to Travis Head.
The incident wasn’t the only time Kohli was in an animated mood on Thursday. Later, Kohli was also caught by the stump mic telling Siraj to “not smile while talking” to the Australian players.
Australia ended Day 1 on the front foot, reaching 311/6 at Stumps. The top four batters of the side all notched up half-centuries.
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