Virat Kohli and Yashasvi Jaiswal walking onto the field© X (Twitter)
Star India batter Virat Kohli made headlines in Australia during the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), though not for his exploits with the bat but for his antics on the field. Kohli deliberately ‘walked into’ Australian youngster Sam Konstas on Day 1, prompting the ICC match referee to penalise him with a fine. While Kohli accepted his mistake, fans in Australia aren’t yet ready to forgive the India star. As Kohli walked onto the field with the bat in hand in the final session of second day’s play, the entire MCG erupted with boos.
With India losing skipper Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul in the second session, Kohli walked out to bat alongside Jaiswal as the post-Tea session began. A huge section of Australian fans welcomed him with jeers, though Indian fans decided to intervene and cancelled out the boos with their applause. Here’s the video:
The australia crowd booed king Kohli when he entered the ground #INDvsAUS #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/bguq5L8rrN
— The Aesthetic Guyy (@Aestheticguyy18) December 27, 2024
A few unworthy types booing the great man Kohli on his way to the crease…#TeamIndia#AUSvsIND #BGT pic.twitter.com/5h9YJJZHS0
— Sunil Awasthi (@sa9321) December 27, 2024
Cricket fans would describe Konstas’ debut as ‘pure cinema’ and no doubt it was one. The 19-year-old came to the senior side with plenty of hype around him after winning the ICC U19 World Cup with Australia and delivering some fantastic hundreds in first-class cricket, including one against India during a pink-ball warm-up Test while representing Prime Minister’s XI at Manuka Oval, which saw him take on Indian stars like Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana etc.
In his first meeting against a full-strength Indian side, Konstas showed immense confidence, unafraid of trying some unorthodox shots. In order to build pressure on the youngster, Virat involved the good old tactic of using his trademark aggression, bumping into Konstas, and making shoulder-to-shoulder contact. However, the tactic backfired as he smashed star pacer Jasprit Bumrah for some big shots, including a reverse ramp and looted 34 runs against him out of his total of 60. Virat was also fined 20 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
This incident opened the floodgates of some negative press for Virat from Aussie media. The back page of The West Australian newspaper, calling Virat a “clown” has gone viral on social media.
With ANI Inputs
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