A tense moment unfolded on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test between India and Australia in Melbourne when Virat Kohli and Australian debutant Sam Konstas had a physical altercation mid-pitch. The incident occurred during a break in play after the 10th over when the players were crossing paths and Kohli seemed to veer out of his way to instigate an altercation with the youngster.
Konstas, having taken a single off Mohammed Siraj’s delivery, was walking towards his partner, Usman Khawaja. At the same time, Kohli picked up the ball and deliberately moved in Konstas’ direction.
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Neither player changed course, resulting in an intentional bump. Kohli turned back to exchange words, and Konstas responded. Usman Khawaja quickly intervened to diffuse the tension, while the umpires also spoke to both players.
The clash drew criticism from former cricketers with former Aussie captain Ricky Ponting pointing out on Channel 7 that Kohli walked across the pitch to confront Konstas and should have been more composed given his experience.
Despite the incident, Konstas remained unfazed. The 19-year-old showcased his fearless batting by attacking Jasprit Bumrah, reverse-ramping the world’s top-ranked bowler and smashing him for sixes and fours. Konstas reached his maiden Test fifty in just 52 balls, providing Australia a strong start before being dismissed for 60 by Ravindra Jadeja.
The altercation did not affect the match’s momentum but sparked debate over player conduct. Many expect match referee Andy Pycroft to review the incident, with possible repercussions for Kohli. The question, though, doing the rounds is if Kohli would miss a Test match due to this physical altercation.
ICC’s demerit points system assigns points to players for offenses during matches, based on their severity. There are four levels of offenses, with higher levels resulting in more demerit points.
Demerit points stay on a player’s record for 24 months. If a player accumulates four demerit points in this period, they face a ban for one Test or two limited-overs matches. If the total reaches eight, the suspension doubles. This progressive punishment ensures that repeated breaches are treated more seriously.
This system prevents players from timing suspensions to miss less important games and encourages consistent good behavior. It replaced the earlier approach, where minor offenses often led to fines but no further consequences, ensuring stricter accountability for conduct on the field.
For instance, a user on Twitter brought up the face off between Kagiso Rabada and Steve Smith in 2018, where the South Africa pacer was banned for 2 games for his shoulder barge with the Aussie. The similarities between that and this Kohli-Konstas incident can’t be ignored. However, that wasn’t Rabada’s first offence in 24 months, and he received three demerit points for this incident, which took his total to eight within 24 months.
Kohli as of now has 0 active demerit points in the ICC records. His last offence, for which he received a demerit point, was in 2019 during a T20I against South Africa. For a shoulder contact with Beuran Hendricks then, Kohli was sanctioned with a level 1 offence and received 1 demerit point.
According to 2.12 in the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, inappropriate physical contact with a player can be categorised as a maximum level 2 offence. Only physical contact with Umpires and Match Referees will be considered as a level 3 or level 4 offence.
So the maximum Kohli can be sanctioned with is a level 2 offence. Level 2 offences have a maximum of 4 demerit points. Four demerit points within 24 months leads to a one Test or two limited-over games suspension, whichever comes first.
This means that, in theory, Kohli can be handed four demerit points, resulting in him missing the SCG Test. But it’s wise to take precedent and what ICC have handed out before to arrive at a more calculated prediction on whether the Indian stalwart would get suspended.
The ICC has handed out 4 demerit points in one go only three times since the system was put in place in 2016. Two of them were for ball tampering (Steve Smith during the 2018 Test against South Africa and Dinesh Chandimal in 2018 during a Test against West Indies). The third was involving Jan Nisar Khan of USA where the ICC notes that “after being given out caught behind, Jan said ‘what the XX man’ to the umpire in dissent at the decision”. This amounted to a level 2 offence and 4 demerit points.
The likelihood of this getting four demerit points is very minimal to none. Farid Ahmad Malik of Afghanistan was the last to get a demerit point for a shoulder barge, during a 2022 Asia Cup game against Pakistan. It was categorised then as a level 1 offence and he received one demerit point for the same. Kohli is likely to be charged the same.
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