Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah has single handedly carried the weight of the Indian team in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The latter has picked up 30 wickets at an average of 12.82 from four games, however, despite his brilliant performance the Indian team is trailing in the BGT by 1-2. Young Australian opener Sam Konstas who made his debut in the Boxing-Day Test, took on Bumrah from the first ball and played some aggressive shots against one of the best bowlers of the modern-day era.
Also Read: IND vs AUS: SCG Pitch Curator Shares Key Insights From Surface Of New Years’ Test | Watch
Michael Clarke Shares Inputs On Virat Kohli-Sam Konstas Shoulder Barge Controversy
However, controversy erupted when Virat Kohli got engaged into a shoulder barge incident with Sam Konstas. During the first innings, Kohli walked pushed Konstas with his shoulder and was fined 20 percent of the match fees by ICC for breaking the code of conduct. Virat faced a lot of trolling from the Australian and Indian cricket experts. However, former Australian cricketer Michael Clarke believed that Virat’s actions were for the way Konstas mistreated Jasprit Bumrah.
Also Read: Michael Clarke Goes Gaga Over ‘Genius’ Nitish Kumar Reddy
While speaking during the Beyond23 Cricket Podcast, Michael Clarke stated that Virat is a senior player and aggressive on the field. He added that Virat Kohli being a senior player was getting frustrated with the lack of respect that youngster Sam Konstas was showing towards Jasprit Bumrah. However, Clarke added that Kohli would have sorted things out on the field.
Michael Clarke said, “Virat, such a senior player. Tough, aggressive cricketer on the field – will not take a backward step, never has through his whole career. When I think about my time being on the field, being a senior player when you see a youngster come in, I think Virat was getting frustrated with the lack of respect that Sam was showing the best bowler in the world in Bumrah. I think that’s what frustrated Virat. I know Virat as well, he would have spoken to Sam after the game. Virat’s a great guy. So those two would have sorted it out. I don’t know (if) Virat would have said sorry, whatever it was. Virat is not a nasty person. So that would be fixed 100%.”
Sam Konstas went onto play an innings of 60 runs from 65 balls which included six fours and two sixes. The latter played a lot of unorthodox shots and also performed some sledging gestures throughout the match to disrupt the attention of the Indian players.
