Virat Kohli is on verge of facing a suspension following his angry exchange with umpire Nitin Menon on the third evening of the second Test in Chennai.
Virat Kohli Argument with umpire Nitin Menon
During the review — seconds before England closed on 53 for three chasing a notional victory target of 482 — ultra-edge confirmed the ball had missed the bat but struck pad on its way through to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
When ball-tracking was then applied by third umpire Anil Chaudhary, it showed that the delivery from left-arm spinner Axar Patel would have gone on to hit the stumps.
The replay showed that Root had not got a knick on it but it was hitting the wickets plumb – yet the third umpire asked the on-field umpire to not overturn his decision. By then, Kohli had got the message from the dressing-room as players in there were also surprised.
Immediately, Kohli walked towards Menon and had a lengthy discussion with the umpire, reacting rather heatedly before walking back to his fielding position shaking his head.
Virat Kohli may banned from the ongoing England Series
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.
Sportsmail columnist David Lloyd, who used to sit on the ICC umpires’ committee, said:
‘He cannot be speaking to umpires like that and inciting the crowd. He should be setting a much better example. Someone in his camp should be having a word and the match referee should be very interested. It’s calculated and it’s not a good look.’
Nasser Hussain’s View
Ex-England captain Nasser Hussain added: ‘It was odd that the India team and their captain took the full 15 seconds to work out whether to review or not. They weren’t actually sure what they were reviewing for.
‘That tends to suggest there was a bit of doubt in their minds and yet Kohli seemed agitated by an umpire who had a milli-second to make that decision. If they were so certain that it was out and should have been given straight away, why did it take them so long?
‘Kohli pushes the line with umpires and officials. Joe Root went up and asked in a very smiley sort of way about a review earlier in the game, but Kohli is a lot more animated when he speaks to them — which doesn’t look good.’
Michael Vaughan’s view
Michael Vaughan, working for the BBC’s Test Match Social, said: ‘You can’t have this, I’m sorry.
‘Kohli is such a powerhouse, you can’t have him intimidating the umpire. It’s a stinker of a decision but you can’t be doing that as a captain.’
Mark Waugh slams DRS decision
Former Australian opener Mark Waugh also reckoned that was the plumbest leg-before decision that a batsman had survived.
His tweet read: “That’s the plumpest LBW I’ve ever seen given not out by DRS. The problem is the DRS went with the umpires call for not out for a caught behind not LBW.”
That’s the plumpest LBW I’ve ever seen given not out by DRS. Problem is the DRS went with the umpires call for not out for a caught behind not LBW.
— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) February 15, 2021
Fans Backs Virat Kohli
The ICC told Sportsmail on Monday night that Srinath was yet to inform their cricket department of any action, although match referees have 24 hours from when on-field incidents are brought to their attention to act.
While Kohli faced backlash for his conduct on the field, there were fans who urged ICC to look into the ‘umpire’s call’ rule.
With seven wickets needed to win, India are in form control of the game and look set to level the four-match Test series.
