Virat Kohli Fined Match Fee For Konstas Incident: Indian Cricket Team star-batter Virat Kohli has been fined 20% of his match fee after the physical altercation he had with Australian Cricket Team debutant Sam Konstas on the field today on Day One of the fourth Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test.
Today was the first day of the fourth of five Australia vs India Test matches, this one being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia won the toss today and decided to bat first.
The home side looked a little shaky at the start. To open the batting, in walked Usman Khawaja and Sam Konstas. The latter is a 19-year-old batter from New South Wales who has been making waves in domestic cricket. The youngster was tested by Jasprit Bumrah in the first over.
In the third over, he attempted to hit the ace pacer for a ramp shot. Then, in the seventh over, he connected a ramp shot off Bumrah, and the ball raced towards the boundary over fine leg. He then hit a similar shot on the next ball, this time a six over third man. Before the over ended, Sam had hit Bumrah for a boundary three times with a ramp shot.
Virat Kohli Fined Match Fee For Konstas Incident
As the debutant started looking good at the end of 10 overs, the incident happened. As the over ended, the fielders were changing sides. When Konstas and Kohli were going past each other, they instead collided shoulder to shoulder. The two mouthed off something as Virat walked after the 19-year-old, still having something to say.
But when it seemed that things could escalate, Khawaja arrived at the scene, grabbed the shoulders of both players and calmed the situation down. By this time, the umpire arrived as well and warned the two players.
Now, the ICC’s Code of Conduct states that any inappropriate physical touch is not allowed and is a punishable offence. The person who would be considered the instigator, which by all accounts was Virat Kohli, could get some demerit points and even end up missing the fifth Test in Sydney.
However, it was much more likely that there would be some deductions from the match fee as punishment. And that is exactly what happened. Kohli, for instigating the incident by walking across to Sam Konstas and colliding shoulder to shoulder, has been fined 20% of his match fee.
🚨 VIRAT KOHLI HAS BEEN FINED 20% OF HIS MATCH FEES…!!! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/UhQX85YWJf
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) December 26, 2024
As for the match, it was a fine day for Australia as all four of their top-four batters, including Konstas, scored 50s. The day ended with the Aussies at 311/6 with Steve Smith and captain Pat Cummins on strike. Jasprit Bumrah, to no one’s surprise, was India’s best bowler today, taking three wickets. Akash Deep, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar also took one wicket each.
The Border-Gavaskar Trophy currently stands at 1-1. Winning this fourth India vs Australia match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will give the winner an advantage heading into the fifth Test in Sydney.
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