India's Virat Kohli has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee after he pleaded guilty to a level 1 offence in the ICC Code of Conduct during his team’s ODI against New Zealand here on Wednesday.
Kohli accepted the proposed sanction from match referee Alan Hurst after the play concluded. He was found to have breached 2.1.3 of the code which, relates to “showing dissent at an umpire’s decision”.
After being adjudged caught behind off paceman Tim Southee for eight, the player stood his ground and looked at the umpire for a considerable time before eventually leaving the middle. This was considered to be a show of dissent, a fact accepted by the player himself.
The charge was brought by on-field umpires Asad Rauf and Asoka de Silva, third umpire Kumar Dharmasena and fourth official G. Liyanage.
“Accepting umpires’ decisions is part and parcel of playing cricket and on this occasion Virat clearly showed dissent when he had been given out,” said Mr. Hurst.
