New Delhi (Nilesh Tiwari): The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Thursday that Virat Kohli had been fined 20% of his match fees and given one demerit point for violating Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct following his shoulder-bumping incident with Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the India vs. Australia fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Since there was no need for a formal hearing, Kohli accepted the sanctions after stumps on Day 1. Since Kohli agreed to the penalties suggested by match referee Andy Pycroft, there was no need for a formal hearing. The accusation was made by third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, fourth umpire Shawn Craig, and on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, according to the ICC’s statement.
Inappropriate physical contact with a player, player support personnel, umpire, match referee, or any other person (including a spectator during an international match)” is defined in Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct.
The former cricket players who were commentating the match, however, took issue with Kohli’s behavior. Ravi Shastri, a former cricket player for India, criticized Kohli’s action as “unnecessary.” On air, Shastri stated, “There is a line, and you don’t want to overstep that line.” Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting accompanied Shastri and accused Kohli of starting the Konstas. “Virat started that altercation by walking a whole pitch to his right. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind. Shastri said, speaking on Fox Cricket.
“I am confident that the referee and umpires will examine that closely. At that point, fielders shouldn’t be close to the batsman. Ponting went on, “Every fielder on the ground is aware of the location where the batsmen will gather.”
“It appeared to me that Konstas would not even be aware that someone was in front of him because he looked up so late. “There may be some questions for that man on-screen there (Kohli),” he added.
The former captain of India would have missed the fifth and final Test match against Australia in Sydney if he had received three or four demerit points. After the play ended, Konstas played down the incident, stating, “Virat Kohli bumped into me by accident; that’s cricket and can happen with tension.
Australia Test squad for Border Gavaskar Trophy:
Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.
India’s squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
