Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar criticised Virat Kohli’s on-field antics during IND vs AUS Test series and has claimed that it put pressure on his teammates. The former Indian skipper shoulder bumped Sam Konstas in the Boxing Day Test. In the next game, the made a “sandpaper” gesture to the SCG crowd in an attempt to provoke the fans which resulted in heavy booing. Gavaskar has come down heavily on Kohli’s actions and has deemed it “simply not cricket”.
Gavaskar not okay with Virat Kohli’s vs Konstas, SCG crowd
In his column for Sydney Morning Herald, Gavaskar opined that there was no provocation whatsoever for Kohli to shoulder bump young Konstas. The incident, which occurred on Day 1 of IND vs AUS 4th Test, saw the Indian batter being handed a demerit point and fined 20% of his match fee. Further, he addressed the incident when Kohli tried to respond to the crowd, both at the MCG and SCG, and opined that to do that caused the player more harm than good.
‘That said, what Kohli did with the shoulder bump is simply not cricket. Indians are not shy to retaliate if provoked, but here the provocation was simply not there,” Gavaskar wrote.
Kohli and Konstas come together and make contact
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) December 26, 2024#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/adb09clEqd
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“Kohli must understand that whatever he does to react to the crowd actually puts more pressure on his teammates, who also then become targets of the spectators,” Gavaskar added.
In the India vs Australia Sydney Test, chase master Virat Kohli was seen mimicking the sandpaper incident to the Australian crowd just after Steve Smith departed.
