Virat Kohli Fined 20% Match Fee & Handed 1 Demerit Point

Former Indian captain Virat Kohli has been fined 20% of his match fee & a demerit point for bumping shoulders with debutant Sam Konstas on the opening day of the Boxing Day test at Melbourne.

Kohli is found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players & Player Support Personnel which relates to inappropriate physical contact with a player, personnel, umpire, match referee, or any other person (including a spectator in the crowd) the ICC has stated in a media release.

"any form of physical inappropriate in Cricket is prohibited, without its limitation the players will regularly breach this rule. if they deliberately, recklessly or negligently rub a shoulder with a player or umpire"

The incident occurred after the end of the 10th over of Day One when Kohli was seen shoulder-nudging the debutant Australian opener in front of a 90,000-strong MCG crowd. It led to an exchange between the players with the other opener, Usman Khawaja, trying to cool things down. Kohli's act drew instant outrage with Ricky Ponting calling for sanctions against the Indian batter.

Ponting On Kohli's Behavior

"Virat was one whole pitch over where the batters generally meet after the end of the over, he is the one who instigated that confrontation, I have no doubts that the umpires and the referee will have few clips to look at, and the fielders should be nowhere near the batters at this point, Virat Kohli might have a few questions to answer " Ponting was quoted in Channel Seven as saying by Fox.

Ravi Shastri On Kohli's Behavior

Even Ravi Shastri, former India coach, did not approve of Kohli's act and said it was unnecessary. "There is always a line drawn in the game one needs to make sure that you don't overstep that" Shastri said