Kohli reprimanded for shoulder bump with…

Melbourne, December 26: Virat Kohli has been fined 20 per cent of his match fee and given a demerit point by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for causing a shoulder clash with debutant Sam Konstas on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test.

The ICC issued a statement after the end of the day’s play on Thursday, finding that Kohli had breached Level 1 of its code of conduct.

The incident took place at the end of the 10th over on the first day of the Melbourne Test when Kohli hit the Australian debutant on the shoulder, leading to a heated exchange between the two players. The other Australian opener, Usman Khawaja, tried to mediate between the two players.

Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct refers to “inappropriate physical contact with a player, player support staff, umpires, match referees or any other person (including spectators during an international match”).

No formal hearing was required as Kohli accepted the sanctions suggested by referee Andy Pycroft. On-field umpires Joel Wilson and Michael Gough, third umpire Sharfuddoula Ibne Shahid and fourth umpire Shawn Craig canceled out the attack.

The altercation occurred during an exciting gaming session. Konstas, making his debut, was in the middle of an impressive innings and showed his fearless batting prowess against India’s formidable attack. The shoulder bump incident briefly overshadowed his performance, but hardly affected his concentration. Konstas scored a brisk 60 off 65 balls.

The Australian batters had a great outing in the middle and ended the opening day with 311/6 in 86 overs.

For India, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah returned with figures of 3-75 in his 21 overs while Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar bagged a scalp each.

The five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series is currently tied 1-1 after the third Test in Brisbane ended in a draw. India won the series opener in Perth by 295 runs before suffering a crushing 10-wicket defeat in the pink-ball Test at the Adelaide Oval.