"Not even going to know that’s gone out of his bank account" - Former Australia batter pans ICC's fine on Virat Kohli during 4th 2024-25 BGT Test 

Former Australia batter Phil Jaques has opined that the International Cricket Council (ICC) were lenient on Virat Kohli for his shoulder barge with Sam Konstas on Day 1 (Thursday, December 26) of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. Match referee Andy Pycroft issued a sanction of one demerit point and a monetary penalty of 20 percent of his match fees.

To most, it looked like Kohli deliberately changed his path to run into Konstas. The India batter had admitted to the offense after Stumps on Day 1. Apart from the barge, Kohli was also involved in a war of words with the 19-year-old debutant before Usman Khawaja calmed things down.

A wide range of punishments, beginning from a financial penalty to a potential match ban, were being speculated. However, the incident was deemed as a Level 1 offense, ruling out the latter.

Although the sanction was imposed right after the first day's play, there was a feeling of injustice among the Australian pundits, who felt Kohli got away and deserved a harsher punishment. Phil Jaques opined that deducting 20 percent of Kohli's match fees would not make any difference to him.

“The way I see it that the match review committee deemed it a ‘negligent bump.' I don’t think you can be negligently bump somebody and walk two pitches over… which is what I saw. It looked like Sam Konstas had got under their skin and he was trying to assert his authority and I know Virat Kohli is Konstas’ favourite player as well, so I think he was the one that was targeting him to try it under his skin," Phil Jaques told ABC Sport (via News 18 Cricket).

“20% of his match fee, like he’s not even know that’s gone out of his bank account, Virat Kohli. It’s not even the most serious fine that you can get or sanction for that charge, so the maximum penalty is 50% of your match fee and two demerits, so he only got 20% of his match fee fined and one demerit. I’m not saying he should have been suspended for it but it did seem like a bit of a slap on the on the wrist, didn't it? There still needs to be a level of decorum," he added.

Kohli was inflicted with a similar punishment when he barged into South Africa bowler Beuran Hendricks during a T20I in Bengaluru in 2019.

Virat Kohli scored 36 runs off 86 deliveries before being dismissed towards the end of Day 2 of 4th BGT 2024-25 Test

The spotlight was firmly cast on Kohli after his altercation with Konstas, and the ensuing punishment dominated the chatter off the field on Day 2. There were mixed reactions from the crowd when he came out to bat in the final session.

He put in a decent shift, applying himself not to chase the deliveries in his vulnerable zone. The ace batter was dismissed when he nicked one off Scott Boland, caught by Alex Carey.