Indian star Virat Kohli faced backlash for a shoulder collision with Australian debutant Sam Konstas during the opening session of the Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Thursday.
The former captain was fined 20% of the match fee and given one penalty point following the incident at the end of the 10th over on Day 1.
During the match, Kohli made physical contact with Konstas in front of a huge crowd of 90,000 people – and the video went viral on social media with many attacking the cricketer for his action.
The moment sparked a brief exchange of words between the players, prompting Australia opener Usman Khawaja to intervene and defuse the tension.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) reviewed the incident under Article 2.12 of the Code of Conduct (CoC), which prohibits inappropriate physical contact in cricket.
The regulation states that players violate this requirement if they “intentionally, recklessly or negligently” engage in physical contact with others on the field.
Factors such as intent, strength, avoidability, and any resulting injury are evaluated to determine the severity of the violation.
Simon Toffel, a former umpire on the ICC’s elite panel, analyzed the incident and stated that Kohli’s actions deserved scrutiny under the Code of Conduct (CoC).
“This long shot that the director has given is really interesting because it shows Virat Kohli actually changing his line to get into Sam Konstas’ personal space. Now, there is a clause in the ICC code of conduct that talks about inappropriate physical contact and that is the clause that the umpires will look at.” “The umpire, at the end of the game today to see whether Virat’s actions fall into that category or not, my suggestion is that they might – look at that seriously – more than likely do something about it now.”
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting also criticized Kohli’s actions and described them as deliberate.
“Virat walked a full field to his right and instigated that encounter. There is no doubt about that in my mind at all. I have no doubt that the umpires and umpires will take a close look at that. The players should not be near the batsman at that point,” he said. Every field man on the ground knows where the batsmen will congregate and come together. It seemed to me that Konstas looked up too late, not even knowing there was someone in front of him. “He (Kohli) may have some questions to answer,” Ponting said.
Even former Indian coach Ravi Shastri expressed his disappointment and termed the action unnecessary.
“There is a line in cricket, and you don’t want to cross it. This incident could have been avoided,” Shastri said.