19-year-old Australian opener Sam Constance has admitted his mistake on the controversy with Jasprit Bumrah in Sydney. He said, Usman Khawaja was taking more time to bat, Bumrah asked him to bat faster. When I argued with Bumrah at the non-striker's end, he got angry. Next ball he sent Khawaja to the pavilion.
India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 3-1 to Australia. The last match of the series was played in Sydney from January 3. In the last over of the first day of the match, Constas was seen unnecessarily arguing with Bumrah.
Images of Constas-Bumrah controversy…
Sam Constas teasing Bumrah.
The umpire intervened and separated the two players.
After dismissing Usman Khawaja on the last ball of the last over of the first day, Bumrah walked towards Constas to celebrate.
Consta admitted his mistake Konstas said on Australian channel Triple M that the last session was underway on the first day of the Sydney Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Bumrah was bowling. Usman Khawaja and Sam Constance came to open for the Australian team. Bumrah wanted to bowl a quick over and give India one more over before the day's play was over.
Meanwhile, Khawaja began to bide his time at the striker's end, biding his time so that he would not have to bowl the next over. Bumrah asked him to bat, then said something from the non-striker's end to provoke Bumrah. After which the dispute between the two increased. The umpire had to intervene and separate the two.
Bumrah got angry at my words and on the very next ball, Khawaja was caught out by KL Rahul in the slips. It is a part of cricket. Credit goes to Bumrah for sending Usman to the pavilion on the very second ball.
Bumrah was the Player of the Series in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. He took 32 wickets in 5 matches.
Whatever happens on the field, I give my best Constas further said that Bumrah is a great bowler. We did well in the series. Whatever happens on the field, I try to do my best. I think there was a bit of panic in the other team because of my arrival.
Khawaja said – Bumrah bothered me a lot Usman Khawaja told ABC media after the match, 'Jasprit Bumrah troubled me a lot throughout the series. It was hard to deal with. People kept asking me what had happened to me, but by then Bumrah was on my mind.
You don't want to see a player injured, but the good thing for us was that Bumrah didn't bowl much in the last Test. Had he been present, I don't know how we would have coped. As soon as Bumrah got injured, we realized that the match was winnable. Bumrah is the most dangerous bowler in the world. I faced it in 2018 too, but this time it was very different.
Bumrah Khawaja was never dismissed Prior to this series, Khawaja also faced Bumrah in the 2018-19 series. Then Bumrah could not get him out even once. Khawaja then scored 43 runs in 155 balls. However, this time Bumrah allowed Khawaja to score 33 runs and sent him to the pavilion 6 times. His average against Bumrah is just 12.7.
Usman Khawaja could score only 184 runs in 5 Tests of BGT 2024-25.
Constance Can play against Sri Lanka Sam Constas played aggressive batting against India, this style impressed everyone. Constas' performance has raised hopes of his inclusion in Australia's squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. On that he said, I still don't know whether I have been selected or not.
Australia will travel to Sri Lanka to play a 2-Test series from January 29. The second Test will be played from February 6. Australia has also made it to the finals of the World Test Championship. The team will face South Africa in June.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).