You can't be soft – Gautam Gambhir on spat between Jasprit Bumrah and Sam Konstas

In a Test match filled with drama at the SCG, the face-off between Jasprit Bumrah and Sam Konstas towards the end of Day 1 hogged the limelight, with an altercation between the duo grabbing the headlines. Konstas reacted to Bumrah asking Usman Khawaja to quickly get ready for the last ball of the day when the young opener came between, setting off fiery reactions from the Indian pacer.

While the clash did evoke reactions and opinions from multiple pundits, Indian coach Gautam Gambhir opined that Konstas was completely in the wrong and should have avoided chiming in on the matter at hand.

Talking at the post-match presser, Gambhir said, “Look, it's a tough sport played by tough men. You can't be that soft. That's as simple as it can get. I don't think there was anything intimidating about it. He [Konstas] had no right to be talking to Jasprit Bumrah when Usman Khawaja was taking time. He had no right and no business to be involved with Jasprit Bumrah. That was a job for the umpire and for the guy who is batting at the [other] end."

In a response to a question about VK’s shoulder barge, Gauti added, “I think whatever's happened is history.  said, it's a tough sport played by tough men. And these things happen. I don't think we need to make a lot of big issue about it. It is not that only these incidents have happened in this series. It has happened in the past as well. A lot of Australian players in the past have done that as well. I think we just keep making big issues about these things."

At the end of it all, it was Australia who reigned supreme as they trumped over India emphatically in the five-match series by 3-1. Jasprit Bumrah held his own fort, being the Player of the Series while it was Scott Boland who walked away with the Player of the Match award.