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Virat Kohli, ICC fine, Sam Konstas, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Boxing Day Test, Border Gavaskar Trophy, demerit point, cricket controversy
Virat Kohli got one demerit point from the ICC.
After Ravi Shastri, Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist and Sunil Gavaskar, more former cricketers have come out to criticize the International Cricket Council (ICC) for the 20% match fee fine it imposed on Virat Kohli for the Sam Konstas shoulder barge incident at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday.
Kohli and Konstas’ shoulders bumped on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test in the 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy when the latter was walking between the ends of the pitch in the 10th over. Konstas, who was batting brilliantly and ruffling some Indian feathers at the time, had a brief heated chat with the former India captain before the umpires and Usman Khawaja intervened.
The ICC enforced one demerit point on Kohli alongside the fine.
“The way I see it that the match review committee deemed it a ‘negligent bump’, former Australia batter Phil Jaques told ABC Sport. “I don’t think you can be negligently bump somebody and walk two pitches over… which is what I saw. “It looked like Sam Konstas had got under their skin and he was trying to assert his authority and I know Virat Kohli is Konstas’ favourite player as well so I think he was the one that was targeting him to try it under his skin.”
“20% of his match fee like he’s not even know that’s gone out of his bank account Virat Kohli. It’s not even the most serious fine that you can get or sanction for that charge so the maximum penalty is 50% of your match fee and two demerits so he only got 20% of his match fee fined and one demerit. I’m not saying he should have been suspended for it but it did seem like a bit of a slap on the on the wrist didn;t it? There still needs to be a level of decorum and I think the lines will cross a little bit,” he said.
Mark Waugh also said Kohli was ‘extremely lucky’ to escape with a ‘very lenient’ penalty. He said considering the ‘hostile’ environment at the MCG, the penalty should have been at least 75 percent of the match fee.
“It doesn’t matter who you are, that sort of behavior is not on,” he said on Fox Cricket. “He’s extremely lucky that the penalty was very lenient … he could easily have been deemed a level two offence. It should be at least 75 percent [match fee] if you’re going to make it a monetary fine. It could lead to something more substantial with the players getting involved or the crowd getting involved, if you’re playing in a hostile environment. You just can’t make contact, it’s just not on.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan concurred, believing that the fine won’t set the right precedent.
“I think Virat is very lucky,” he said on the same show. “The altercation yesterday wasn’t a great look for him as a person. To take on a 19-year-old, who was just doing what you do at the end of an over. He’s got the same as what Mohammed Siraj got at the Adelaide Oval, so I think he’s got away with it there. I just don’t think the monetary fine is going to affect any of the players in this era of the game and it’s more just the precedent it sets.”
Erstwhile spinner Kerry O’Keefe also felt it sent a ‘poor’ message to youngsters around the world.
“If it was a 100 metre sprint, Virat started in lane six and finished in lane two,” O’Keeffe said on Fox Cricket’s Test Daily. “Automatic disqualification, you can’t change lanes. A level two offense code of conduct for inappropriate contact is two demerit points. He got one so no suspension and a fine. I think it’s about right. But the message it sent was poor to those youngsters that play around the world. You do not shoulder bump between overs regardless of how involved you are in the game.”
- Location :
Melbourne, Australia
