Australia’s latest debutant Sam Konstas has proven in his brief stint in international cricket that he is an entertaining character. Konstas made a dream debut at the MCG against India with a scintillating fifty.

But the road to fifty was eventful for him as he was involved in a shoulder-to-shoulder confrontation with senior Indian cricketer Virat Kohli. The incident occurred after some heated exchanges between the two.

Recently, Konstas was seen imitating Kohli’s shoulder barge during the second day of the Melbourne Test. He caught the crowd’s attention when he began to move his shoulder. The local public stood up after seeing Konstas and supported him for such actions.

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Watch: Sam Konstas mocks Virat Kohli

The Australian crowd and public have been very hostile towards Virat Kohli after his shoulder collision with Sam Konstas. The Australian media even used words like “thug” and “clown” to refer to the former Indian captain.

The incident between Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas

Virat Kohli and Sam Konstas were involved in a shoulder collision during the first day of the Boxing Day Test. After Australia’s 10th innings, Kohli seemed to change direction suddenly and barged his shoulders at Konstas.

Kohli turned away as the two players shared some verbal volleys between them. Neither of them backed down as Usman Khawaja, Konstas’ initial partner, had to intervene and separate the two.

At the end of the day, the ICC found Virat Kohli guilty of the offense and fined him 20 per cent of the match fees. Kohli accepted the offense and as a result, no further hearing was necessary.

However, Konstas seemed unfazed by the occasion and continued attacking the Indian players. He played some bold shots against India’s leading fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and put pressure on him with paddles and reverse paddles. The youngster scored a fiery 60 off 65 balls in his first Test innings.

Sam Konstas gave Australia a great start

Meanwhile, Australia got off to a fast start thanks to Sam Konstas’ excellent knock at the top. Usman Khawaja gave him good company and had half a century of experience of his own. Marnus Labuschagne failed to convert another big start and was dismissed for a well-made 72.

But starting the show was Steve Smith, who hit 140 off 197 balls with 13 fours and 3 sixes. Smith made good progress with the tail bowlers to take Australia to a solid first innings total of 474. Bumrah was the pick of India’s bowlers with 4-99.

In response, the Australian bowlers were excellent and got Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli put the innings on track with an excellent partnership of 102 runs. However, Jaiswal’s wicket opened the floodgates for Australia as India lost 3-6 in quick succession.

All-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar turned out to be the unlikely stars of day three for India as both were going well as they pushed India past the follow-on mark.