Melbourne: Talismanic India batter Virat Kohli is set to be fined 20 per cent of his match fee and handed one demerit point for his shoulder collision with debutant Australia batter Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Reports from Cricbuzz and SEN Radio have said Kohli was handed these sanctions for deliberately making physical contact with Konstas, which was assessed by match referee Andy Pycroft.
Though an official statement from the International Cricket Council (ICC) is yet to come, Kohli is all but certain to be charged under Article 2.12 of the Code of Conduct, which says, “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.”
“When assessing the seriousness of the breach, the following factors (without limitation) shall be taken into account: (i) the context of the particular situation, including, without limitation, whether the contact was deliberate (i.e. intentional), reckless, negligent, and/or avoidable; (ii) the force of the contact; (iii) any resulting injury to the person with whom contact was made; and (iv) the person with whom contact was made.”
The incident happened after the 10th over, when Kohli had the ball in hand and changed his walking path to be in a shoulder collision with Konstas, who did not take kindly to it, and exchanged a few words with him. Konstas’ opening partner Usman Khawaja and on-field umpire Michael Gough came up quickly to calm down the situation immediately.
Seeing the Kohli-Konstas shoulder collision left former Australia captain Ricky Ponting displeased. “Virat walked one whole pitch over to his right and instigated that confrontation. No doubt in my mind whatsoever. I have no doubt that the umpires and the referee will have a good look at that.”
“Fielders should be nowhere near the batsman at that stage. Every fieldsman on the ground knows where the batsmen will congregate and get together. It looked to me that Konstas looked up really late, wouldn’t even know anyone is in front of him. That man on-screen there (Kohli) might have a few questions to answer,” he said while being on-air for Channel Seven.
Former India head coach Ravi Shastri said on Fox Sports that he did not approve of Kohli’s act towards Konstas and called it totally unnecessary. “You don’t want to see that happening. Virat is a senior player and he has been the captain of the side and he’ll have his own explanations, but its something you don’t want to see.”
–IANS