Ricky Ponting was among those to slam Virat Kohli’s lenient punishment for the Boxing Day shoulder-barge on Sam Konstas. But it was actually the infamous ball-tampering scandal and one of the darkest days in Aussie cricket that was behind the match referee’s call to slap Kohli with a fine of 20% of his match fee and one demerit point sanction for the incident.
Match referee Andy Pycroft charged Kohli with a level-one offence for “inappropriate physical contact” on 19-year-old Konstas, whose stunning Test debut left the cricket world gobsmacked. The level one grading is the most lenient in the International Cricket Councils’s code of conduct and typically results in no more than a fine and official reprimand for the guilty player.
That was not always the case though and only came about after changes were made to the ICC’s disciplinary code in the wake of the 2018 ‘sandpapergate’ scandal in South Africa. Following the ugly saga, changes were made so that heavier penalties were imposed for ball-tampering as former Aussie captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were all handed lengthy suspensions.
But it also meant that the previously more serious charge of physical contact with another player – which used to be an automatic level-two offence – suddenly became a less serious one. Grade two charges are often penalised with a ban, meaning under the previous laws Kohli could have been rubbed out of the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Sydney, which would have been a massive blow for India.
As it turned out though, the Indian superstar was docked with a paltry fine that works out to be around $5670, which is the same penalty handed down to teammate Mohammed Siraj for his heated war of words with Travis Head during the second Test in Adelaide. Aussie cricket great Ponting was among those to slam the ICC for what he described as a lenient punishment for Kohli and one he feared sent the wrong message that physical contact with another player was an accepted part of the game.
Ricky Ponting slams ICC over lenient sanction for Virat Kohil
“I saw someone veer out of their way to deliberately make contact with the batsman – that’s not part of our game,” Ponting said on Channel 7’s coverage of the fourth Test. “That could have escalated and got out of hand really easily. As far as I’m concerned, it was pre-meditated, it was deliberate and it showed just how flustered India were at the time.
“There’s no doubt that the way Sam played, the way the Australians approached the morning’s play yesterday, really got under the skin of India. (Kohli’s) someone the cricketing world looks up to and I don’t think the punishment was harsh enough. I know there are precedents and they’ve generally been a 15 to 25% fine, but the contact was reasonably severe when you think about it, compared to some of the other ones that we’ve seen.
“Let’s have a think about the enormity (f the Kohli incident with Konstas). This is probably the most watched day of cricket for the whole year all around the world. Imagine that happens in a grade game on the weekend. Now, what’s going to happen there? I think people are going to think that that’s almost acceptable now.”
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Cricket greats reckon Virat Kohli got off lightly
Former England captain Michael Vaughan suggested Kohli was ‘very lucky’ to get off without suspension and Aussie great Mark Waugh was also left fuming. “It’s not on. It doesn’t matter who you are – that sort of behaviour is not on,” Waugh said on Fox Cricket. “It’s extremely lucky. The penalty was very lenient, I thought, from Andy Pycroft, the match referee. He could easily have been deemed a level-two offence… and that would be a suspension. It should be at least 75 per cent [of his match fee]. You just can’t make contact.”
Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley conceded that while it was ‘not a great look’, he stopped short of saying Kohli should have been banned and praised Konstas for the maturity he showed in dealing with the ugly incident. And as much as Aussie cricket fans feel like Kohli got off lightly, the truth is the Indian superstar deserves to play even if it has seen him become public enemy No.1 in Australia.
