Indian cricket star Virat Kohli has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee and a demerit for shouldering Australian debutant Sam Konstas during the opening session of the Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday. Point is given.
The incident took place after the end of the 10th over of the first day when Kohli got physical with Konstas in front of a packed crowd of 90,000.
The two players exchanged brief words at that moment, prompting Aussie opener Usman Khawaja to intervene and ease the tension.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) reviewed the incident under Article 2.12 of its Code of Conduct (CoC), which is inappropriate physical conduct in cricket. Restricts communication.
The regulation states that players violate this provision if they “intentionally, recklessly, or recklessly” engage in physical contact with others on the field.
Factors such as intent, force, avoidance, and any resulting injury are evaluated to determine the severity of the violation.
Former ICC Elite Panel umpire Simon Taufel analyzed the incident and said that Kohli’s actions deserved scrutiny under the Code of Conduct (CoC).
“This long shot provided by the director is really interesting as it shows Virat Kohli changing his line to get into the personal space of Sam Konstas. This is the clause on which the umpires and referees today The end of the game will see whether Virat’s actions fall into that category and my suggestion would be that they are probably – looking at it seriously – more likely to do something about it now.”
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting also criticized Kohli’s actions and called them deliberate.
“Virat drove a full pitch to his right and sparked that collision. No doubt in my mind. I have no doubt the umpire and the umpire will have a good look at it. Tell the fielders to be closer to the batsman at this stage. Shouldn’t be. Every fielder on the ground knows where the batsmen will gather and I think Konstas will get up very late even knowing that the man there is (Kohli). may have some questions to answer are,” Ponting said.
Even former Indian coach Ravi Shastri expressed dismay and called the process unnecessary.
There is a line in cricket, and you don’t want to cross it. This incident was avoidable,” said Shastri.