He Had No Right To Talk To Jasprit Bumrah: Gautam Gambhir Criticises Sam Konstas; Pat Cummins Responds – WATCH

The 19-year-old Konstas was seen talking animatedly with Bumrah when India pacer was not pleased with Usman Khawaja, who was wasting time on the first day of Sydney Test. 

According to Gambhir, Konstas had no “right” to talk to Bumrah. 

“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 Konstas the very best for his future and hoped he would learn from the experience.  

“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,” the India coach said. 

“And when you’re playing against a 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.

Pat Cummins On Sam Konstas 

Sam Konstas had a debut to remember in 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. With his aggressive batting and on-field antics, the 19-year-old managed to get under the skin of the Indian lineup. In Melbourne, Konstas was involved in a shoulder-barging incident with Virat Kohli and he then managed to ruffle the feathers of pacer Jasprit Bumrah in Sydney. 

However, Pat Cummins passionately defended Konstas, saying he is impressed with how the teenager has gone about his business.

“First of all, obviously, the ICC set the rules and set the punishments. We saw that in Melbourne with Virat, getting 20% fine, that’s what they thought. So obviously, that’s the standard that they’re happy with,” said Cummins in the post-match press conference. 

“In regards to Sam, I’ve been really impressed with how he’s gone about it. I think people mistake a bit of confidence with bullying or abuse. You’re allowed to walk around with your shoulders puffed back and play a few cricket shots. I don’t think that’s illegal, but some people really take offence to that and want to kind of put him back in his place,” he added.