Indian star Virat Kohli has been facing backlash for shoulder-bumping Australian debutant Sam Konstas during the opening session of the Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday.
The former skipper has been fined 20% of his match fee and handed one demerit point after the incident which occurred at the conclusion of the 10th over on the first day.
During the match, Kohli made physical contact with Konstas in front of a packed crowd of 90,000 — the video of which has gone viral on social media with many bashing the cricketer for his act.
The moment sparked a brief exchange of words between the two players, prompting Australian opener Usman Khawaja to intervene and defuse the tension.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) reviewed the incident under Article 2.12 of its Code of Conduct (CoC), which prohibits inappropriate physical contact in cricket.
The regulation states that players breach this clause if they “deliberately, recklessly, or negligently” engage in physical contact with others on the field.
Factors such as intent, force, avoidability, and any resulting injury are assessed to determine the severity of the breach.
Simon Taufel, a former ICC Elite Panel umpire, analysed the incident and stated that Kohli’s actions deserved scrutiny under the Code of Conduct (CoC).
“This long shot that’s been provided by the director is really interesting because it shows Virat Kohli actually changing his line to get into the personal space of Sam Konstas. Now, there’s a clause within the ICC Code of Conduct that talks about inappropriate physical contact and that’s the clause that the umpires and the referee will be looking at, at close of play today to see whether or not Virat’s actions fall into that category and my suggestion would be that they’ll probably — looking at that seriously – more than likely do something about that now.”
Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting also criticised Kohli’s actions, calling them deliberate.
“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, and wouldn’t even know anyone was in front of him. That man on-screen there (Kohli) might have a few questions to answer,” said Ponting.
Even former Indian coach, Ravi Shastri, expressed disappointment and labeled the act as unnecessary.
“There is a line in cricket, and you don’t want to overstep it. This incident was avoidable,” Shastri said.
