Virat Kohli has been fined 20% of his match fee and awarded one demerit point for shoulder bumping Sam Konstas at the ‘G’ on Thursday morning.
Cricket is not a contact sport and there are rules for body nudging in the game. Relevant here is another set of rules in ICC’s Code of Conduct (CoC). The article 2.12 of CoC reads.
“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.
This is what Ricky Ponting & Co used to do in early 2000s. Now, Virat Kohli has taken the charge 🧐#INDvAUSpic.twitter.com/QGTK0dQ2nk
— Richard Kettleborough (@RichKettle07) December 26, 2024
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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.
“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,” Ponting was quoted in Channel Seven as saying by Fox.
Even Ravi Shastri, former India coach, did not approve of Kohli’s act and said it was unnecessary. “There is a line and you don’t want to overstep that line,” Shastri said.
