Former India pacer Irfan Pathan crticised star batter Virat Kohli for pushing into Australia’s rookie Sam Konstas on the opening day of the fourth Test here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday.
The incident occurred after the 10th over on Day One when Kohli touched Konstas in front of 90,000. After the two players exchanged words, Australian opener Usman Khawaja intervened to defuse the tension.
Virat Kohli’s conduct did not sit well with former teammate Irfan Pathan, who urged the pioneer to avoid physical encounters on the field.
“Stay away from contact. You cannot contact a player. You can express aggression and support your players. He is a 19-year-old boy. When we were 19-year-old males, Hayden, Gilchrist, and all used to make a lot of noise from behind but never touched us. So you might have averted that on the cricket field,” Pathan remarked.
“I have a question. If it had been Steve Smith, who is Australia’s senior player, and one of our 19-year-old guys was making his debut, and he had come and pushed like that, would we have welcomed it? We would have not liked it at all. Same “Pathan added.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) found Kohli guilty of shoulder-bumping Konstast under Article 2.12 of its Code of Conduct (CoC), which prohibits inappropriate physical contact in cricket. He was fined 20% of his match fee and given one demerit point.
