A man who accidentally crashed his car while trying to chase after Sydney Thunder star Sam Konstas for a photograph has opened up on the comical series of events that led to him starring in a viral video watched by millions around the world.
The Sydney Thunder’s social media channels lit up on Wednesday ahead of a blockbuster cross-town clash against the Sixers on Friday at the SCG following an unexpected interaction with Konstas and a fan.
In a video captioned “The Konstas effect”, CCTV footage taken in the car park at Cricket NSW headquarters at Sydney Olympic Park shows the 19-year-old Test opener walking with his kitbag from the carpark to training.
A man hurriedly parks his car and jumps out, seemingly to follow Konstas, before the video ends with a white 2024 Land Cruiser Prado rolling forward and crashing into another parked car, with the panicked driver desperately trying to stop his vehicle.
“At that moment, it all went wrong,” the driver Sirajuddin Khan said. “I just bought that car last month.”
Khan, whose phone has blown up since the video went viral, shared the story behind the bingle with this masthead on Thursday.
A cricket fan crashes his car after forgetting to put on the handbrake.Credit: Instagram/Sydney Thunder
For the past six months, Khan’s 12-year-old son, Shahzad Muhammad, has been training at Cricket Central, sometimes five times a week between 6am and 7am.
“A lot of people know me there,” Khan said.
On Wednesday, the Sydney Thunder hosted a training camp from 9am to 4pm. Earlier that morning, Shahzad Muhammad had asked his father if he could borrow his phone to take pictures of Thunder players at the clinic.
“I said no because I didn’t want him concentrating on my phone. He should concentrate on training,” Khan said. “I thought I had upset him.”
Sam Konstas poses for a selfie with a fan. Credit: Getty Images
Khan was in and out of Cricket Central that day, juggling work meetings and running errands, including picking up a bat for his son.
However, Khan forgot he needed to return a pair of his son’s batting gloves to a shop to get exchanged. Running late, Khan drove back to Cricket Central for a quick in-and-out stop.
“As you can see, I parked in the disabled spot because in my head I’m thinking that I’m going there only for one second,” Khan said. “I was going to grab the gloves because there was no parking anywhere. As soon as I’m reversing back in, I see this guy rocking up. It was Konstas.
“I think to myself, I’ll get ahead of Konstas, run to my son, get him from training, then I’ll take a picture for him … and I’ll go back to my meeting.
“I jumped out of the car and started running. I actually wasn’t going to say hello to Konstas. I was going to grab my son and ask Konstas if he could have a picture.
“All of a sudden my car is going beep, beep, beep.”
In his rush, Khan had left his car in reverse – not even neutral – and it started rolling forward, and then made contact with another parked vehicle.
“When I saw my car rolling, Konstas looked at it. Then he started walking inside,” Khan said.
“I tried to stop it before the accident. I stood there and was a bit embarrassed.”
Ahead of his final match with the Thunder before heading to Sri Lanka on Test duties, Konstas was asked about the amusing moment.
“I saw the clip and it’s gone a bit viral,” Konstas said. “Hopefully I’ll see him later today and sign some stuff. It wasn’t funny … hopefully he’s all good.”
The owner of the parked car was Prashant Sharma, a Cricket NSW staff member. On Thursday, his car was in the same spot, with a handful of scratches.
Ironically, Khan works in the car industry.
“I’ve already organised a car for him [Sharma] to drive from Monday,” Khan said. “We do car repairs and detailing, so that was the easy part. The funny thing is when I went in again this morning, Prashant parked his car in the same place.”
As luck would have it, Khan’s son eventually managed to get the photo with Konstas.
Sam Konstas (left) poses for a photo with Shahzad Muhammad Khan (white shirt) after the boy’s father crashed his car trying to help get a photo with the Sydney Thunder star.
“When I went into reception to tell them that I hit a car, my son ran out and said, ‘Dad, I just took a picture with Sam Konstas’,” Khan said. “He didn’t even know about my accident.
“Mate, this video is going to turn to gold if he makes it [as a cricketer]. The accident his dad had just to get a picture.”
Thunder captain David Warner also saw the funny side.
“That’s what happens when you’re hot off the press,” Warner said. “People want your autograph and people literally jump out of cars and don’t put them in park. Hopefully the insurance company doesn’t see that.”
