Andrew McDonald calls out intimidating India celebrations, Sam Konstas, Virat Kohli, press conference

Andrew McDonald revealed on Saturday that he had spoken to Sam Konstas after the completion of play on Friday and was clearly bemused by the fact the entire Indian team surrounded him after securing the wicket of Usman Khawaja to end the opening day.

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The Australian coach made a point of noting the Indians had not even been quizzed about the incident but also didn’t hide the fact he was bemused by the interaction.

“My conversation to him was just around whether he’s okay. Clearly the way that India celebrated that, it was quite intimidating,” McDonald said.

“So … I mean, it’s clearly within the Laws of the Game, within the rules and regulations, so there’s been no charges laid. But to have an opposition, obviously, swarm the non-striker like that, we have got a duty of care to our player to make sure he’s okay and in a head space to go out the next day and perform. So that’s all those conversations were.”

Asked whether he thought India went to far with their celebrations, McDonald said: “It’s clear that it’s acceptable, because there was no fines or punishments. So I’ll leave that up to the ICC and obviously Andy Piecroft being the Match Referee and the umpires out there. So if they thought that it was satisfactory, then that’s the I suppose that’s the benchmark we’re playing.

“You just got the feeling he wasn’t OK when he had that animated chat with Virat Kohli, telling him ‘You will be leading the side. I’m leaving the field’, you knew it was for more than to change his boots. Something must have happened.”