Sam Konstas had no business talking to Jasprit Bumrah, says Gautam Gambhir
Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir fired back upon Australian coach Andrew McDonald’s comments that stated that the Indian team had tried to intimidate Sam Konstas on the end of Day 3 of the fifth Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The incident took place right towards the end of day with Usman Khawaja and Konstas at the crease and Jasprit Bumrah at the bowling end. At one point Khawaja took his time before facing Bumrah and the delay was not something that the Indian bowler took to kindly. Bumrah’s reaction to Khawaja’s delay then got Konstas to square up to Bumrah.
The very next ball, Khawaja got himself caught at slips followed wild celebrations from the Indians with Bumrah facing Konstas and Virat Kohli and the rest of the team crowding the young Aussie.
“My conversation to him was just around whether he was okay,” McDonald said about Konstas after the altercation. “Clearly the way that India celebrated that was quite intimidating. It’s clearly within the rules and regulations of the game, as there have been no charges laid.”
A day later, Gambhir responded to McDonalds comments and implied that Konstas was soft. “It’s a tough sport played tough men. You can’t be that soft, as simple as it can get. I don’t think there was anything intimidating about it,” Gambhir stated.
Gambhir then added that the youngster had no right to be speaking to Bumrah when the Indian was bowling to Khawaja. It was that added altercation that caused the Indians to celebrate vociferously when the Aussie left-hand batsman lost his wicket.
“He had no right to be talking to Jasprit Bumrah when Usman Khawaja was taking time. He had no business talking to Bumrah. It was the job of the umpire and the guy who was batting at the end.”
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