On the first day of the Boxing Day Test at the storied Melbourne Cricket Ground, veteran Indian batsman Virat Kohli ran into Sam Konstas. Kohli’s shoulder collided with rookie Konstas at the non-striker’s end during an end-to-end exchange after the tenth over. After Usman Khawaja and umpire Michael Gough separated them, the 19-year-old became enraged and attacked Kohli, who wasn’t afraid to return it.
Ricky Ponting, a former cricket player, expressed his displeasure with Kohli’s gesture and demanded a severe punishment for commentating. In the end, he blamed Kohli for the physical altercation, pointing out that Konstas had nowhere to go since he glanced at the India international very late. After the play of the day, the 36-year-old was given one demerit point and fined 20% of his match fee, and the former captain of India admitted his error.
Ricky Ponting didn’t like the sentence because he thought it wasn’t “harsh enough.”
He said it was perhaps the most watched day in cricket history and that, although he is unaware of the seriousness of the situation, he thinks that because of his seniority, Kohli was given a light sentence.
In my opinion, the penalty wasn’t severe enough. I’m aware that there have been cases in the past [where comparable violations have resulted in comparable fines]; these have often been between 15% and 25%, but let’s consider the magnitude of yesterday. According to Ponting on 7 Cricket, it’s likely the most viewed cricket day of the year worldwide.
What would happen in a grade game this weekend if that were to occur? In my opinion, people will now consider that to be nearly acceptable. And regrettably, as we were informed as players and as senior players, there are instances when [the severity of punishment] is simply different for some individuals, like Virat. I personally don’t think the sanction was severe enough because he is a role model and someone the cricket community looks up to,” the 50-year-old continued.
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