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Australian head coach Andrew McDonald made a shocking statement when asked Constas himself‘confrontation with India’s captain jasprit bumrah during the dying stages of the first day’s play in Sydney.
McDonald called the Indian players’ behavior “intimidating” and backed Sam Konstas in the whole controversy. He further expressed surprise at the ICC’s decision not to fine any Indian players for their celebrations after the wicket of Usman Khawaja.
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Andrew McDonald supports Sam Konstas; blame it on team india
After the second day of the Sydney Test, Andrew McDonald was asked about Sam Konstas’ heated argument with Jasprit Bumrah during the final on Day 1. Surprisingly, McDonald blamed all of India and called their behavior d ‘intimidating
“My conversation with him was about whether he was OK. Obviously, the way India celebrated it was quite intimidating,” McDonald told reporters.
The Australian head coach criticized the way Indian players swarmed around Sam Konstas during his celebration of Usman Khawaja’s wicket and said it was his duty to make sure the player is fine and in a good mental space.
“It’s clearly within the laws of the game. There’s been no accusation from them, but to have an opponent swarm the non-striker like that, we have a duty of care to make sure our player is well and in a headspace to go out the next day and act, that’s all these conversations,” he added.
Is this behavior acceptable?
When asked if this kind of behavior is acceptable, Andrew McDonald decided to let the ICC decide the future course of action. He showed full faith in the world body and match referee Andy Pycroft to make the right decision going forward.
“Clearly it’s acceptable because there were no fines or punishments. I’ll leave that to the ICC. Obviously Andy Pycroft is the referee and the match officials, if they thought it was satisfactory, I guess that’s the benchmark. We’re playing with each other,” observed the former Australia all-rounder.
Indian fielders included Prasidh Krishna and Virat Kohli were pumped after the dismissal. However, there were no fines from ICC match referee Andy Pycroft.
What was the incident between Sam Konstas and Jasprit Bumrah?
Sam Konstas and Jasprit Bumrah were involved in a verbal altercation with each other in the finale of the first day. The altercation started when Bumrah was rushing to bowl the final over, while batsman Usman Khawaja was taking his time to ensure that India did not bowl another over.
During this period, non-striker Sam Konstas said something to Jasprit Bumrah and caused him to lose a few seconds. Bumrah rushed towards Konstas and said some angry words, while Konstas was not far behind.
The referee had to rush to calm the situation afterwards. Bumrah later took the wicket of Khawaja on the last ball of the day and immediately looked at Konstas at the non-striker’s end. The Indian fielders were absolutely thrilled with the dismissal and celebrated with Konstas still around.
