India’s Virat Kohli barges into Australia’s Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the fourth Test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (Screengrab via X/@7Cricket)
Cricket Australia CEO, Nick Hockley, expressed concern on Friday regarding the on-field incident involving Virat Kohli and debutant Sam Konstas on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Hockley emphasized that physical contact has no place in the game of cricket.
“Not a great look,” Hockley told SEN Radio.
“I mean you know physical contact on the cricket field is a complete no-no. It wasn’t great.
“I think clearly Virat in accepting the charge has taken responsibility and I actually thought Sam Konstas showed maturity beyond his years and was actually very gracious to brush it off.
“What I think it does I think it highlights just the intensity of the competition but also just how much is at stake in this series but yeah not a great look,” he added.
India’s Virat Kohli, talks to Australia’s Sam Konstas (second left) as Usman Khawaja (right) looks on during the first day of the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. (AP Photo)
Virat Kohli escaped major sanctions for his bump on debutant Sam Konstas after the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced he had accepted a fine worth 20 per cent of his match fee.
When asked whether the penalty was adequate, Hockley said: “I think that’s for the for the officials.”
“I’ve got a really experienced panel of officials here and yeah I think the main the main thing the main thing is that kind of Virat has accepted the charge and taken responsibility.”
When coaxed about if that had been one of the Australian players what would have been action from the match referee? He replied: “I think that’s for the match referee there’s a very clear very clear code and that’s for the officials to administer so you know I think that’s all been undertaken in the normal course.”
India’s Virat Kohli gestures to a member of a crowd during play on the first day of the fourth cricket test between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia. (AP)
However, the Cricket Australia CEO lauded selectors for picking up Konstas for the Boxing Day Test.
“I think it was a really brave and bold call,” he said.
“Certainly I think with the top order, I was just so thrilled to see the top four all get 50s yesterday. I think we needed something a little bit different so I was excited, I was really excited and I have to say I was nervous the first couple of overs.
“Particularly that first over, I think it was four plays and misses and I mean part of me thought when I think Uzzy (Usman Khawaja) had the same thing the following over.
“There has been so much talk about Sam Konstas and we’ve heard about it, we’ve seen it in Sheffield Shield, we saw it with the PM XI but the ability to kind of solve problems and switch things up.
“I mean a lot of the discussion around was for me growing up was play it in the V and so to see that really the new era of cricket and bringing that game with the ramps was just incredible and credit to him.
“I mean I think what’s been talked about this week is confidence but not arrogance and yeah so you know all credit to him, all credit to the selectors and hopefully this is the start of an incredible career to come.”
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