Team India surrounding Australias Sam Konstas (C) after dismissal of Usman Khawaja during fifth Test.© AFP
Australia head coach Andrew McDonald accused India of intimidating 19-year-old opener Sam Konstas with the way visitors surrounded him at the end of Day 1 of the fifth Test in an intimidating celebration. The incident took place on the last ball of Day 1, when young Konstas, who has repeatedly gotten under the skin of the visitors since making his debut in the fourth Test, was involved in an animated chat with skipper Jasprit Bumrah before the Indian spearhead went on to dismiss Usman Khawaja on the very next delivery.
A pumped-up Bumrah gave a fiery send-off instead to Konstas, with the Indian fielders joining in, as the visitors’ had some cheers at the end of a tough day.
“My conversation to him (Konstas) was just around whether he’s okay. Clearly, the way that India celebrated was quite intimidating. It’s clearly within the Laws of the Game, within the rules and regulations – there’s been no charges laid.
“But to have an opposition obviously swarm the non-striker like that – we’ve got a duty care to our player to make sure he’s okay and in a head space to go out the next day and perform. So that’s all those conversations were,” said McDonald in the post-day press conference.
Andy Pycroft, the ICC match referee who levelled the fine on Kohli in Melbourne, after the Indian great charged his shoulder at debutant Konstas, is also overseeing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series finale and did not charge Bumrah or any other Indian player after the side swarmed around the 19-year old.
McDonald stated that the ICC’s decision not to level any fines or charges against the Indians makes their response acceptable and sets the benchmark for his side.
“It’s clear that it’s acceptable because there were no fines or punishments. I’ll leave that up to the ICC and obviously Andy Pycroft being the match referee and the umpires out there. If they thought that it was satisfactory, then I suppose that’s the benchmark we’re playing amongst,” he added.
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