‘Didn’t want to be tainted by…’: Usman Khawaja reveals how he Diffused the exchange between Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas

Usman Khawaja was the opening partner of Sam Konstas, and was the closest spectator to the whole verbal altercation between Virat Kohli and young Australian debutant during Day 1 of Melbourne Cricket Ground Test on December 26. The shoulder-bump between the two was followed by a verbal exchange, which caused Usman Khawaja to step in and prevent the situation from getting any worse.

After the day came to an end, Usman Khawaja shared his perspective about the incident and revealed how he calmed down the placers. When speaking to ABC Sport, he stated that he had not seen the initial interaction, but he turned his attention towards them when the players collided with each other.

“At the moment, I didn’t see what happened. Like, I was walking kind of the other way. And then I just went, ‘woah’. I kind of looked back and saw like they just as I turned around, I saw them collide and I was like, what’s going on here? But yeah, it wasn’t,” Khawaja said.

“Sammy (Sam Konstas) was going, he was on fire. His beans were obviously going. I just came to diffuse the situation because I was like, I like the emotion. I like, you know, there was a bit of chirp going on between Sam and (Jasprit) Bumrah and Virat (Kohli) during the whole time, but I didn’t want to be tainted by any physical contact,” headded.

Sam was a force to witness on Day 1 of Boxing-Day Test. He had displayed an aggressive batting style, as he played shots all around the ground. He was particularly impressive against Jasprit Bumrah, as he took a fearless approach against him. Konstas scored 60 runs very quickly in 65 balls, and made an important partnership of 89 runs with Usman Khawaja.

The post ‘Didn’t want to be tainted by…’: Usman Khawaja reveals how he Diffused the exchange between Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas appeared first on Cricket Country.