‘Clown Kohli’, Australian media slams India star

A day after Virat Kohli was fined and handed a demerit point for shoulder-bumping Australia opener Sam Konstas on day 1 of the Boxing Day Test, the Australian media came down heavily on the former India captain.

'Clown Kohli', and ‘Cricket failed to stand up to Kohli' headlines dominated the newspapers Down Under.

The back page headline of ‘The West Australian Sport’ screamed 'Clown Kohli' accompanied by 'Indian sook SLAMMED for pathetic bump in teen's dream Test debut'.

'Sook' is an Australian slang referring to a coward or a crybaby in Tasmania.

The same paper had called Virat 'Holy Kohli', 'Kohli Moley' in the past.

The Daily Telegraph called it 'Virat Kohli's childish meltdown'.

Several former Australian cricketers had called for suspension of Kohli by the ICC.

Reacting to Australian media's criticism of Kohli, former India coach Ravi Shastri said, "You expect that in a home country. I wish your country stands up for our players when things like this happen. I am not surprised by this at all, simply because Australia hasn’t won here in 14-15 years. The last time they won a Test match at the MCG was in 2011. So, when they get an opportunity to go berserk, they will go berserk," he said on Star Sports.

Virat Kohli was fined 20 per cent of his match fee and awarded one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct,” the ICC said in a statement. “No formal hearing was needed as Kohli accepted the sanctions proposed by match referee Andy Pycroft,” it added.

Kohli was to get Rs 15 lakh as match fee but now he will get Rs 12 lakh.

India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said the incident is nothing big. “When you play a game, there will be emotions but it is not as big as it seems. I wasn’t aware of what happened and don’t know what was said,” he said.

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said debutant Sam Konstas showed maturity beyond his years and was gracious to brush aside his physical altercation with Kohli.