Virat Kohli was seen remonstrating with one of the on-field umpires after Joe Root survived a close DRS LBW call on day three of the second Test between England and India.
In the last over of the day, an Axar Patel delivery deflected off Root’s pad on the way to the gloves of Rishabh Pant behind the stumps.
Given not out by the on-field umpire, India reviewed the decision, with Ultra Edge replays showing no contact between the ball and bat.
When the decision subsequently went to ball-tracking, the ball was projected to be ‘hitting’ the stumps, but with ‘umpire’s call’ going England’s way in regards to where the ball impacted the pad.
India’s captain was then seen engaging heatedly with the umpire, which could lead to action from the match referee. Article 2.8 in the ICC’s Code of Conduct covers “dissent at an Umpire’s decision”, and includes “arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the Umpire about his/her decision”.
Notably, Article 2.8 states, “It shall not be a defence to any charge brought under this Article to show that the umpire might have, or in fact did, get any decision wrong.”
If charged, Kohli could have a Level 1 or Level 2 offence brought against him, leading to an imposition of between one and four demerit points.
Kohli currently has two demerit points on his record across the last 24 months, one of which was handed down for an incident involving an umpire’s decision. Were he to be found guilty of breaching protocol in this match, a possible punishment of two further demerit points would see him receive a suspension for one Test match.
