Usman Khawaja reveals how he sorted matter between Virat Kohli, Sam Konstas

by


If there was any player who watched the whole incident closely between Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas in the morning session of Day 1, it is Usman Khawaja. Khawaja was Konstas’ opening partner and was batting alongside him when the whole controversy happened.

Both Kohli and Konstas exchanged some verbal volleys with each other as Khawaja stepped in to calm both the players down. Even the on-field umpire had to step in to make sure everything was fine between the players.

The players moved away from each other as Konstas continued his merry way. After the end ofthe day’s play, Usman Khawaja opened up on the whole incident that happened in front of him and revealed his role in the whole controversy.

Watch: Virat Kohli hilariously dances to celebrate Travis Head’s wicket for a duck at MCG

Usman Khawaja breaks silence on Virat Kohli-Sam Konstas altercation

After stumps on Day 1, Usman Khawaja spoke to ABC Sport and revealed the whole incident from his point of view that happened on the field between Sam Konstas and Virat Kohli. Khawaja claims not to have looked at the first instance but saw both the players collide with each other when he turned back.

“At the moment, I didn’t see what happened. Like, I was walking kind of the other way. And then I just went, ‘woah’. I kind of looked back and saw like they just as I turned around, I saw them collide and I was like, what’s going on here? But yeah, it wasn’t,” Khawaja said.

“Sammy (Sam Konstas) was going, he was on fire. His beans were obviously going. I just came to diffuse the situation because I was like, I like the emotion. I like, you know, there was a bit of chirp going on between Sam and (Jasprit) Bumrah and Virat (Kohli) during the whole time, but I didn’t want to be tainted by any physical contact,” he added.

Usman Khawaja reveals his conversation with Virat Kohli

Further speaking on the topic, Usman Khawaja revealed that he asked Sam Konstas to go and bat and let him handle the whole situation. When asked about his conversation with Virat Kohli, Khawaja refused to reply and cleared that such things should stay on the field.

“I’ve known Virat a long time, he came to the academy when I was in the U-19s. I’ve known him for a long time. Been mates a long time, so I was like (to Sam) ‘you chill, chill, go bat, I’ll talk to him and I’ll sort this out and yeah, it was fine’,” Khawaja explained.

“Something along those lines, yeah. You don’t even know everything. You know guys, seriously! What goes on the field stays on the field,” Khawaja responded when asked about his conversation with Kohli.

Sam Konstas shines on debut

Meanwhile, it was a stunning debut from Sam Konstas who displayed his attacking style and played shots all around the ground. Konstas was particularly severe on India’s bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and took him on.

The youngster didn’t allow Bumrah to settle into the rhythm in his opening spell which set the tone for the rest of the innings. He played some unorthodox shots like scoops and reverse scoops to disrupt the rhythm of the bowlers and proved to be successful as well.

Konstas scored a quickfire 60 off 65 balls while opening the batting. He struck 6 fours and 2 sixes during his knock. He stitched an important partnership of 89 runs for the opening wicket with Usman Khawaja to give Australia a strong start.




Leave a Comment