Wanted to make sure Konstas was okay after India’s intimidating celebration: McDonald

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald said he had a conversation with young Sam Konstas after day one proceedings, but only about his mental wellbeing after being ‘swarmed’ by the Indian players after the final ball of the day.

Two balls before the close of play on day one, Konstas got into a somewhat heated argument with Jasprit Bumrah after the India skipper asked Usman Khawaja to not waste time. Bumrah eventually got Khawaja on the final ball of the day, and, after that, the entire Indian side ran towards Konstas and celebrated aggressively. Bumrah did not celebrate but ran towards the youngster and gave him a death stare. 

“My conversation with him [Konstas] was around whether he was okay,” McDonald said. 

“Clearly, the way India celebrated the Khawaja wicket was quite intimidating. It’s clearly within the laws of the game, and rules of the game, so there’s been no charges laid. 

“But to have an opposition swarm a non-striker like that, we had to make sure the player was in a good headspace the next day to perform.”

When asked if India’s actions were acceptable, McDonald said in a rather sarcastic tone that all was well since the ICC did not impose any sanctions on the tourists. 

“Clearly it was acceptable [according to the rules]. There were no fines or punishments. I’ll leave it to the ICC. If the Match Referee thought that the behaviour was satisfactory, that’s the benchmark we’re playing amongst I suppose,” the Australia head coach said.

With India leading by 145 runs with four wickets in hand, the Sydney Test is right in the balance. Chasing will not be easy on an extremely spicy pitch, but the Australia head coach said that the Kangaroos will take confidence from other big chases they’ve successfully completed in recent times - including the 281 against England at Edbgaston and 279 against New Zealand in Christchurch last year.

“I think if you’ve been there and done that before, you take confidence in that to navigate those scenarios. In particular the lower order, which potentially maybe called upon tomorrow,” McDonald said.