‘I Didn't Want It To Be Tainted By Any Physical Contact’: Usman Khawaja On Kohli - Konstas Heated Exchange of Words

A lot of players were unhappy after Virat Kohli was involved in a heated spat with young Sam Konstas on Thursday. Australia opener Usman Khawaja who intervened to handle the situation said he did not want the situation to go out of hand.

Khawaja was batting in the middle when the incident transpired in the 10th over of the Australian innings on the opening day of the fourth Test. While walking towards each other's end, Kohli and Konstas bumped shoulders and were involved in a heated exchange of words.

"I was walking the other way and just as I turned around, I saw them collide. I was like, 'What's going on here?' Sammy was going, he was on fire, his beans were obviously going. I just came to diffuse the situation," Khawaja told the ABC.

"I like the emotion. There was a bit of chirp going on between Sam and (Jasprit) Bumrah and Virat the whole time. But I didn't want it to be tainted by any physical contact. I've known Virat a long time. We've been mates a long time. I was like (to Konstas), 'Chill. I'll talk to him. You chill, and I'll sort this out'."

The ICC also decided to punish Virat Kohli after he bumped into Australian batter Sam Konstas Kohli has been fined 20 percent of his match fee and also added one demerit point after he breached Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

“No formal hearing was needed as Kohli accepted the sanctions proposed by Match Referee Andy Pycroft. On-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid and fourth umpire Shawn Craig levelled the charge," ICC said in a media release.

Australia Squad: Pat Cummins (C), Alex Carey (WK), Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Scott Boland.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant(w), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Akash Deep, Jasprit Bumrah(vc), Mohammed Siraj, Sarfaraz Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, Abhimanyu Easwaran.