He had no right to talk to Bumrah: Gambhir criticises Konstas

PTI, Jan 5, 2025, 12:24 PM IST

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has lambasted Australian youngster Sam Konstas for his aggressive run-in with Jasprit Bumrah during the fifth and final Test here, saying the 19-year-old had no “right” to talk to the Indian captain.

Konstas was seen talking animatedly with Bumrah after the pace spearhead, who was leading the side after the off-colour Rohit Sharma stepped aside, dismissed Usman Khawaja on day one of the game.

The match ended with Australia winning by six wickets for a 3-1 series triumph here on Sunday.

“It’s a tough sport played by tough men. You can’t be that soft, as simple as it can get. I don’t think there was anything intimidating about it,” Gambhir said in the post-match press conference when asked about the Indian players’ aggressive response to Konstas’ antics.

“He had no right to be talking to Jasprit Bumrah when Usman Khawaja was (wasting) time. He had no right and no business to be involved with Jasprit Bumrah. That was the job of the umpire,” he added.

Nonetheless, Gambhir wished the attacking opener the very best for his future and hoped he would learn from the experience. Konstas made his debut with a fiery half century in the fourth Test in Melbourne.

“Test cricket is all about improving every day and sometimes you can’t just go out there and keep smashing from ball one. You’ve got to respect red-ball cricket as well and hopefully he’s going to learn from his experiences.

“And when you’re playing against high quality attack like India, this will be a great learning for him going forward. I think whatever’s happened is history…

“…I don’t think so we need to make a lot of big issue about it. It is not that only these incidents happen in this city, it has happened in the past as well,” he noted.

Australia qualified for the World Test Championship final following the triumph and would be defending their title against South Africa in June.