Former Indian captain Virat Kohli has been punished for his on-field action in the early period of the opening day of the crucial Melbourne Test against Australia. 

During the first hour of the first day of the Melbourne Test between Australia and India, which started on Boxing Day 2024, Virat Kohli had a shoulder bump with the debutant Australian opener Sam Konstas. It triggered a little argument before the umpires and another Aussie opener Usman Khawaja controlled the situation.

Virat Kohli received one demerit point along with match-fee fine

At the end of the day, Kohli has received a 20 percent fine of the match fees and one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct. Kohli has been sanctioned by the Match Referee Andy Pycroft after the umpires (two on-field umpires, one TV umpire, and one fourth umpire) levelled the charge. As Kohli admitted his offence and accepted the proposed sanctions, there is no requirement for a formal hearing. 

During that controversial incident, criticised by some experts, Kohli breached Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct. The article relates to, “inappropriate physical contact with a Player, Player Support Personnel, Umpire, Match Referee or any other person (including a spectator during an International Match.”

It was Kohli’s first ICC Code of Conduct breach incident since 2020. Last time, he was penalised by the ICC for the 2019 Bengaluru T20I incident, where Kohli had an avoidable shoulder contact with the South African player Beuran Hendricks.

Recently, Siraj and Head also received one demerit point

During the day-night pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval, which was the second game of the ongoing five-match Test series, Indian pacer Mohammed Siraj and Australian batter Travis Head had a heated moment while Siraj gave him a send-off. Both received one demerit point each, while Siraj also suffered a 20% of his match fees. 

What is the demerit point? How does it work?

The demerit points system was introduced in 2016 to punish the players who regularly breach the Code of Conduct. In other words, this system has been created to maximize fair play in the game.

The demerit points system has four levels, which we see below. All the demerit points are carried forward to 24 months, even if the player completes his punishment.

 

While we have just seen the four levels of demerit points, now we will see how the demerit points convert into the suspension points that lead to the match suspension for the accused player. 

 

From the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, we can also learn about the meaning of suspension points for international matches. 

• Two suspension points = A Test Match or any other International Match of at least four days in duration.

• One suspension point = A One-Day International Match or Twenty20 International Match