Virat Kohli, team India’s captain in all 3 formats has received an official warning and one demerit point after being found guilty of a Level 1 breach of the ICC Code of Conduct during Sunday’s third T20I against South Africa, which India lost by 9 wickets owing to Quinton De Cock’s 78 in 52 balls.
According to the official ICC release, Kohli was found to have breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which 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.”
In addition to this, one demerit point has been added to the disciplinary record of Kohli, for whom it was the third offence since the introduction of the revised Code in September 2016. The revised code states that if a player has accumulated 4 demerit points in last 24 months, the points get converted into suspension points. Two suspension points mean that a player can be banned for either a test match or two T20 or Two ODIs, whichever of these, come first for the player since he/she gets the 4th demerit point.
Kohli now has three demerit points after having got one demerit point each during the Pretoria Test against South Africa on January 15, 2018 and against Afghanistan in the 2019 World Cup 2019 on June 22.
Sunday’s incident occurred in the fifth over of India’s innings, when Kohli made contact with bowler Beuran Hendricks while taking a run.
Kohli admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Richie Richardson of the ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, and as such, there was no need for a formal hearing. According to the ICC rules, a formal hearing only takes place if the player does not admit to the offence.
On-field umpires NitinMenon and C.K. Nandan, third umpire Anil Chaudhary and fourth official ChettihodyShamshuddinlevelled the charge.
Level 1 breaches carry a minimum penalty of an official reprimand, a maximum penalty of 50 per cent of a player’s match fee, and one or two demerit points.
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