Australia vs India Boxing Day Test: Sam Konstas steals the show on day one in Melbourne
Virat Kohli has escaped suspension for his bump on Australian debutant Sam Konstas, the man who earlier stole the show with a stunning fifty on debut. RECAP DAY ONE HERE.
Virat Kohli has dodged suspension for his sensational run-in with Australia’s teen wonder Sam Konstas on Boxing Day, with the superstar instead fined over the explosive incident.
Not only living up to the hype of his extraordinary debut circumstances, Konstas outdid expectations many times over as Australia’s top order finally fired as a collective.
But despite half-centuries from all of the Aussie top four, the hosts were unable to fully ram home their advantage as Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne both fell tamely.
Having been thrown off his rhythm by the audacious Konstas, Jasprit Bumrah proved irrepressible, firing back later in the day to remove Travis Head and Mitch Marsh in quick succession to help keep the tourists in the contest.
RECAP THE KEY TALKING POINTS FROM DAY ONE BELOW
Steve Smith will have the chance to make his second century in as many Tests when he resumes on 68 not out on Friday.
The Aussies reached 6-311 at stumps on day one, with Pat Cummins also unbeaten on eight.
But while Smith looks to have turned around his fortunes, fellow great Kohli faced fierce scrutiny.
On a day when the mercury soared high into the 30s, it was the former Indian skipper who got most hot and bothered.
Konstas, en route to what was a cavalier 60 - had already stared down Indian quick Mohammed Siraj - but things became much uglier when Kohli entered the fray between overs.
The global cricket icon appeared to veer off course to shoulder Konstas, drawing response from the 19-year-old before umpire Michael Gough stepped in.
Konstas’ opening partner Khawaja put his arm around Kohli in an attempt to play peacekeeper but the damage had already been done.
Konstas later played down the incident, suggesting that it was accidental.
“I was doing my gloves, he accidentally bumped me,” Konstas said.
“I think that’s just cricket, it’s the tension.”
In any case the incident drew the attention of match referee Andy Pycroft, officiating in his 100th Test, who is fined Kohli 20 per cent of his match fee.“India player Virat Kohli has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct on the first day of the fourth Test against Australia in Melbourne on Thursday,” the ICC confirmed on Thursday night.
“Kohli was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator during an International Match. In addition to this, one demerit point has been added to Kohli’s disciplinary record, for whom it was the first offence in a 24-month period.
“The incident occurred at the end of the 10th over of Australia’s innings, when Kohli walked up to batter Sam Konstas and negligently bumped his shoulder with the batter inappropriately. Kohli admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, so there was no need for a formal hearing.
“On-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid and fourth umpire Shawn Craig levelled the charge. Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.”
Even if Pycroft had deemed Kohli’s offence to be on the more serious end of the spectrum, precedent from other cases meant it was highly unlikely he would incur more than three demerit points. That would not be enough to rule him out of a Test match, but enough to potentially lead to suspension for a limited-overs international.
Working in Kohli’s favour was the fact that while he has priors, none have been in the last two years, meaning they aren’t counted against him.
Konstas played with youthful abandon, reverse-scooping Bumrah several times in the early overs of the day after Australia won the toss and batted.
The debutant eventually fell lbw to Ravindra Jadeja for 60, while Khawaja (57) and Labuschagne (72) made important contributions before gifting catches off Bumrah and Washington Sundar respectively.
It was the first time since early 2022 that all four of Australia’s top four had scored half-centuries in the same Test innings.
Head (0) fell after leaving a ball that reared back to take his off-bail, while Marsh’s struggles continued as he edged an attempted pull on four.
Alex Carey made a typically eye-catching 31 before falling to Akash Deep via the second new ball.
Originally published as Australia vs India Boxing Day Test: Sam Konstas steals the show on day one in Melbourne
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