Virat Kohli Fined: Former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting has strongly criticised the ICC for imposing what he sees as a lenient punishment on Indian star Virat Kohli following his shoulder charge on debutant Sam Konstas. Kohli was penalised with a 20% fine and one demerit point after match referee Andy Pycroft called out the incident to be a level 1 offence. Level 1 breaches typically result in a reprimand, a fine of up to 50% of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.
Ponting, however, believes the punishment was too lenient. Speaking on Channel 7 before Day 2 of the Test, he said that personally he didn’t believe it was harsh enough for Kohli. He said that similar incidents in the past saw fines ranging from 15-25% but this incident was one of the most high-profile incident and that too on the most-watched day of cricket in the year. “If something like this happens in a local game, what message does it send? It could be seen as almost acceptable now,” Pointing said.
The charge was leveled by on-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid, and fourth umpire Shawan Craig. Kohli was found to have violated Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which covers “inappropriate physical contact” with players, officials, or spectators during an international match.
The incident occurred on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, at the conclusion of the 10th over of Australia’s innings. Kohli approached Konstas and made a physical contact by bumping his shoulder into the batter, which was deemed inappropriate.
Kohli admitted to the offence and accepted the penalty, so there was no need for a formal hearing.