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Indian Express
15-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
‘No place for Kohli-initiated shoulder barge', but Lord's Test wasn't like that – Atherton praises players for their ‘passionate intensity'
Even as Mohammad Siraj was fined a demerit point for his 'screaming' celebration at Ben Duckett, former England captain Michael Atherton has sought to differentiate passionate expressions and nastiness, by raising the example of Virat Kohli's shoulder barge to Sam Constas in Australia. '… wouldn't spectators rather see players caring too much, rather than too little about playing Test cricket; caring too much, rather than too little, about playing for their country?' Atherton wrote on The Times. He then brought up the Kohli example. 'There should be no place, for example, for the shoulder barge that Virat Kohli initiated in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne last Christmas, when he diverted from his path to deliberately walk into Sam Konstas. No one, of course, wants to see physical altercations on the field of play, or sustained nasty verbal abuse. 'But here there was none of that here, except two teams full of passionate intensity, commitment and skill. What a Test match they gave us.' Kohli's shoulder barge occurred on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test last December. The ICC's Code of Conduct states: 'Any form of inappropriate physical contact is prohibited in cricket. Without limitation, players will breach this regulation if they deliberately, recklessly and/or negligently walk or run into or shoulder another player or umpire'. Former captain Ricky Ponting had then laid the blame squarely on the Indian. 'Virat walked one whole pitch over to his right and instigated that confrontation,' he said on Seven. 'No doubt in my mind whatsoever.' Another former player and commentator Kerry o'Keefe echoed similar sentiments. 'Kohli has built his whole career on arrogance. Suddenly he identified that in a debutant, and he seemed to resent it. I think he's in trouble,' Keefe said on the Fox Cricket broadcast. Kohli was last sanctioned by the ICC in 2019 for another shoulder-barging incident with South Africa's Beuran Hendricks. Back then Kohli had admitted he was guilty. This time, he was docked 20 percent of his match fee. Atherton noted how the two episodes were completely different. He also brought up another incident from the final-day chase at Lord's. When Ravindra Jadeja collided mid pitch with Brydon Carse. 'In a match where there was plenty of spice and niggle, tempers flared as Carse and Jadeja collided mid-pitch, although the impact was entirely accidental, after Jadeja had deflected the ball towards third man, with both players ball watching rather than minding each other's path. In this game, though, it has not taken much kindling to spark the flames and Stokes, if you please, moved in as peace-maker, standing between both players, as they exchanged pleasantries.' He also wrote how Jofra Archer reacted to dismissing Rishabh Pant. '…his off stump flattened. Archer offered some choice words as Pant walked off'. Atherton summed up the Test thus: 'Six years ago to the day Lord's had witnessed the most remarkable finish to any cricket match, when the World Cup final was decided on a boundary countback after a Super Over. Now the game delivered an extraordinary finish again, with two of the protagonists from that day, Stokes and Jofra Archer, taking centre stage. In the context of Test cricket, it doesn't often get as tight as a 22-run winning margin.'
News.com.au
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
‘Sexy' Wimbledon influencer catfishes famous sports star
She's too good to be true. After threatening to replace humans in seemingly every sector from law to academia, artificial intelligence is now going after our influencer gigs as well. Meet Mia Zelu, an AI-powered social media star who has amassed over 150,000 Instagram followers by sharing sexy pics of herself at various tennis events and elsewhere. Watch England vs India Test Series LIVE & EXCLUSIVE on Fox Cricket, available on Kayo Sports| New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer. In a recent Insta post, the hyperrealistic blonde bombshell is seen sitting courtside at the All England Club during Wimbledon drinking Pimm's, a drink that's associated with the tournament. 'Still not over the event … but the party's a whole other game,' Zelu, who bills herself as a 'digital storyteller' captioned the pic. 'Which Wimbledon match was your fave?' Another showed the tennis influencer — whose creator is unclear — in the stands during a match. Her photos aren't the only things that are super naturalistic — Zelu also 'uploads' surprisingly heartfelt and human-seeming messages as well. 'You know what's exhausting? Pretending you're okay while you're slowly burning out,' the fictitious content creator declared in one post alongside a pic of her rocking jean shorts at a cafe. 'Smiling in messages, staying 'productive', answering 'all good!' while everything feels off.' She added: 'We've all done it. Some of us are still doing it. Because being honest feels risky. 'Because we don't want to seem weak or dramatic. Because it's just easier.' Zelu even has a 'sister' named Ana, who's a brunette and has amassed 266,000 followers on the platform by posting similarly glamorous snaps. Despite the fact that Zelu discloses that she's 'AI' in her Insta profile, thousands of admirers liked her post and even posted fawning replies such as 'you look stunning' and 'will you marry me'. Some even inquired about her 'skin care routine', although it's yet unclear how many of these replies were posted in jest. However, some hawk-eyed viewers noticed that Indian cricket star Rishabh Pant had liked many of her posts, leading them to believe that he'd been 'catfished'. 'Rishabh Pant thinks he's interacting with a real girl, totally oblivious to the fact that it's an AI,' criticised one, while another scoffed, 'Someone should probably tell Rishabh Pant that this is an AI account …' Coincidentally, Pant's likes of Velu's posts are no longer visible on Instagram and he has yet to weigh in on the backlash, the Daily Mail reported. Zelu is one of a growing roster of AI-influencers flooding the market. Last year, virtual influencer Alba Renai went viral after getting hired as the first non-human host on a weekly special segment of 'Survivor' in Spain. While the trend might seem harmless, there are plenty of dangers to the proliferation of AI doppelgangers — beyond just leaving a certain cricketer with a red face. Last year, a UK woman who fell for a 'US army colonel' she met on Tinder discovered later that he was a romance scammer after he swindled her out of over $20,000 by deploying hyperrealistic AI videos.
News18
05-07-2025
- Sport
- News18
'Have To Learn On The Job': Sam Konstas Told To 'Tighten Up' Part Of His Game
Last Updated: Michael Hussey believes teenage Test opener Sam Konstas needs time to develop after struggling against West Indies in Barbados, scoring just 3 and 5 runs against Shamar Joseph. Former Australian batter Michael Hussey believes that teenage Test opener Sam Konstas will need time to develop after a disappointing performance in the first Test against West Indies in Barbados. Konstas struggled against Shamar Joseph's fierce opening spells in both innings, falling to the West Indies pacer twice and scoring just 3 and 5 runs. The 19-year-old had a brilliant start to his international career last summer with a swift half-century against India at the MCG but has since failed to surpass fifty in five consecutive Test innings. With Steve Smith out due to injury and Marnus Labuschagne omitted, Australia's inexperienced top four struggled on a challenging Bridgetown pitch, collapsing to 3-22 and then 4-65 before the middle order stabilized the innings. 'The conditions did not look easy for batting at all, there was a lot of uneven bounce, up and down bounce, sideways movement off the seam as well. (Konstas) is still a very young player, he's only 19. He's still trying to figure out his own game, at first-class level, let alone Test-match level in conditions that are so foreign to what he would be used to. I'm not sure he would have ever batted on pitches like what they're getting in the West Indies," he told Fox Cricket. 'It's great education for him, and we're going to have to have some patience. It's going to take some time and he's going to have to learn on the job a bit. But there's no denying he's got some great talent. I'm sure that the journey is going to be bumpy, particularly in the first few years. There's going to be some ups and downs, but let's hope there are a few more ups than downs along the way," he added. Hussey feels Konstas is undergoing an identity crisis at the crease, observing that the young opener seemed 'a little bit unsure" about the best approach to batting in unfamiliar conditions against a new opposition. 'You're asking a young kid that hasn't played a lot of first-class cricket to do that at Test match level. It's a tough ask," Hussey said. 'You need to have a really strong technique to be able to get through some difficult spells early, get that shine off the ball, and then it's finding the balance of soaking up that pressure but still being able to score and put pressure back on the bowlers. 'Generally speaking his technique looks pretty sound. Then the mental side of the game kicks in and he's just a little bit unsure, but that's probably down to unfamiliar conditions in the West Indies." Hussey also highlighted Konstas' vulnerability to inswinging deliveries, noting how Shamar Joseph trapped him leg-before in the first innings. 'The ball coming back into him seems to give him a little bit of trouble. I feel as though teams will be targeting balls running back towards the stumps, LBW and bowled. He could probably just tighten up on that little part of his game a bit, but generally speaking his technique is reasonably sound," the former batter said. With the return of Smith for the second Test in Grenada, Australia will hope for a better top-order performance to seal the three-match series. First Published: July 03, 2025, 14:55 IST
Indian Express
03-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
Mike Hussey's advice to under-firing Konstas: Be patient and improve the mental side
After his sparkling debut, where he even scooped Jasprit Bumrah over the fence, teenage opener Sam Konstas's graph has plummeted. In the five outings after his 65-ball 60 at MCG, he has mustered only 61 runs, putting his place in jeopardy. He was named in the eleven for the second Test against West Indies in Granada, but time is running out for him to cement his place in the eleven. But he has the sympathies of former Australian batsman Mike Hussey. '(Konstas) is still a very young player, he's only 19. He's still trying to figure out his own game, at first-class level, let alone Test-match level in conditions that are so foreign to what he would be used to. I'm not sure he would have ever batted on pitches like what they're getting in the West Indies,' he told Fox Cricket. 'It's great education for him, and we're going to have to have some patience. It's going to take some time and he's going to have to learn on the job a bit,' he added. He looked timorous in Barbados, where Shamar Joseph hustled him with pace and movement. He consumed him in both innings, nailing him in front with a malicious nip-backer in the first dig and making him chop onto the stumps in the second. But Hussey was firmly behind him. 'But there's no denying he's got some great talent. I'm sure that the journey is going to be bumpy, particularly in the first few years. There's going to be some ups and downs, but let's hope there's a few more ups than downs along the way,' he remarked. Team coach Andrew McDonald too has backed his young charge to come good sooner than later. He observed that it was a matter of time before he struck the fine balance between attack and defence. Against India, he was over attacking; versus West Indies over-defensive. 'It felt like he was stuck at times and he was over-aggressive and then [he] underplayed. It's really that balance and tempo. He's got that there and that's a step up to Test cricket. He's got a really good partner down the other end [in Usman Khawaja] that over time, I think, will play out. That's all we ask for – a bit of patience and time with a young player coming into Test cricket,' explained. A technical glitch has already surfaced. He gets into a tangle when the ball seams in, and subsequently gets bowled or lbw. 'He's been on the record around working on his technique in the winter and some small adjustments and how they play out in training versus under extreme pressure is always a different sort of pattern,' McDonald said. Hussey said he didn't detect anything alarming in his technique. 'I feel as though teams will be targeting balls running back towards the stumps, LBW and bowled. He could probably just tighten up on that little part of his game a bit, but generally speaking his technique is reasonably sound. Then the mental side of the game kicks in and he's just a little bit unsure, but that's probably down to unfamiliar conditions in the West Indies,' he said.
News.com.au
19-06-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Vaughn backs Konstas to open for Aussies
Cricket: Fox Cricket's Michael Vaughn joined Fox Sports News to discuss the possibility of young gun Sam Konstas opening for the Aussies in the upcoming Test series against the West Indies.
