Will Virat Kohli get banned for one Test match: Senior Indian cricketer Virat Kohli has landed himself in a lot of trouble by shoulder bumping into young Australian opener Sam Konstas on the first day of the Boxing Day Test.
As Konstas took the Indians by storm with a quickfire half-century on Test debut, Kohli attempted to frazzle him with physical contact. However, that only reflected Kohli and India’s frustrations with the youngster blasting his way through a 52-ball half-century, becoming the second youngest Australian batsman to hit a Test fifty.
Match referee Andy Pycroft is set to look into the incident and, in particular, Virat Kohli’s actions. This incident happened during the change of overs break.
Kohli clearly changed his direction of motion and moved into Konstas, who was busy adjusting his gloves and hadn’t looked up. Kohli rammed his shoulder into Konstas’ shoulder before both exchanged fiery looks and words. The umpire Michael Gough and Usman Khawaja had to intervene to prevent the duo from clashing further.
Check Out: Virat Kohli Sam Konstas Physical Incident: Did Virat Instigate?
Former Aussie skipper Ricky Ponting tore into Kohli during his commentary stint. Ponting is certain that the match referee will call up Kohli and is likely to sanction him.
Ponting said on Channel 7,
“Virat walked one whole pitch over to his right and instigated that confrontation. No doubt in my mind whatsoever. I have no doubt that the umpires and the referee will have a good look at that. Fielders should be nowhere near the batsman at that stage. Every fieldsman on the ground knows where the batsmen will congregate and get together.
“It looked to me that Konstas looked up really late; he wouldn’t even know anyone was in front of him. That man on-screen there (Kohli) might have a few questions to answer.”
Will Virat Kohli get banned for one Test match?
If the match referee deems Kohli’s deliberate shoulder contact with Konstas as a Level Two offence, then he will receive three or four demerit points, and four demerit points would lead to suspension from the next Test match.
The ICC’s Code of Conduct says that “any form of inappropriate physical contact is prohibited in cricket. Without limitation, players will breach this regulation if they deliberately, recklessly, and/or negligently walk or run into or shoulder another player or umpire.”
Watch: Virat Kohli shoulder bumps into Sam Konstas
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