On the first day of fourth test of BGT at Melbourne, Virat Kohli went under physical on-field altercation with Australian debutant Sam Konstas.
Though the punishment of on-field altercation is ICC ban but Virat was given a demerit point and 20% match fee. This has sparked a debate among cricket fans and ex-players, criticising treatment given to high profile players.
The match referee said that ” normal hearing was needed as Virat Kohli accepted the sanctions proposed by the match referee Andy Pycroft”.
If a player gets four demerit points in a period of 24 months, he faces suspension however this is the first time after 2019 that virat has faced a demerit point. Now he has to avoid getting any demerit points for the next 2 years to avoid being suspended.
Why he didn’t faced suspension was because “The Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct relates to inappropriate physical contact with a player, player support personnel, umpire, match referee or any other person (including a spectator during an international match,” is categorized into two levels based on the context of the situation. Whether it was deliberate, or unintentional, avoidable or reckless.
Second, the force of the contact and third is its severity that whether it has caused any injury to the party? And fourth is the person with whom the contact was made.
In this case it was debutant and the force wasn’t that much as it didn’t cause any injury to the debutant so it was considered a level 1 breach and he was given a penalty of match fee and demerit point. If he had done this with the umpire, the severity of the situation would be high and he would have faced a ban.
Though the debutant Sam Konstas had faced such sledging on the first day of his debut match but he has shown promise and has given a decent performance on his debut match, that is appreciated by the fans.
Lets see how the match continues as Australia is setting a decent target in the first inning because of the debutant Sam Konstas opening score of 60 Runs off 65 balls with six fours and two sixes, giving Australia an ideal start at the fourth test.
