Ricky Ponting has accused Virat Kohli of deliberately "instigating confrontation" with Australia's debutant Sam Konstas on day 1 of the ongoing boxing day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The former Australia captain was on air for Channel 7 when he called out Kohli for intentionally getting into a physical altercation with the 19-year-old Aussie.
"We are seeing the replay again of the physical altercation between Konstas (Sam) and Virat," Ponting said on air. "And have a look at where Virat walks. Virat's walked one whole pitch over to his right and instigated that confrontation. No doubt in my mind whatsoever."
For the unversed, Kohli and Konstas shoulder-bumped into each other after the end of the 10th over of Australia's innings. The incident unfolded while Konstas was trying to head over to the other end and have a chat with his opening partner Usman Khawaja in between overs.
Both Kohli and Konstas exchanged a few words with each other before Khawaja and on-field umpire Michael Gough got involved and avoided any further escalation between the two players.
Meanwhile, other than the altercation with Virat, Konstas enjoyed a memorable Test debut. The 19-year-old took the attack to the Indian bowlers and especially targeted Jasprit Bumrah. Konstas became only the second player in Test cricketing history to hit Bumrah for two sixes in a single innings after England's Jos Buttler.
Konstas looked at ease against Bumrah as he employed scoops and reverse scoops against the Indian pace spearhead.
Australia Playing XI: Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India Playing XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep.
