Batting legend Ricky Ponting isn’t pleased with Indian stalwart Virat Kohli getting only 20 percent match fee fine for his on-field altercation with Australian debutant Sam Konstas on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test at MCG.
During the break between the 10th and 11th overs of the Australian innings, Konstas and Usman Khawaja were changing ends when Kohli walked towards the young opener and gave him a shoulder push mid-pitch.
The 19-year-old did not back down and turned to confront Kohli as the duo exchanged some heated words, prompting other players and umpires to intervene.
Kohli’s shoulder-barging act drew him a lot of flak from the cricket fraternity members, including Indian greats such as Sunil Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) also fined Kohli 20 percent of his match fee and awarded one demerit point. However, Ponting felt the punishment wasn’t “harsh enough”.
"Personally, I do not think it [the punishment] was harsh enough. I know there are precedents [where similar infringements have incurred similar-sized penalties] - they have generally been between a 15 and 25 per cent fine but let us have a think about the enormity of yesterday," Ponting said while speaking on 7 Cricket before the start of second day’s play in Melbourne.
"It is probably the most-watched day of cricket all year all around the world. Imagine if that happens in a grade game on the weekend now, what is going to happen there? I think people are going to think that that is almost acceptable now."
"And unfortunately for someone like Virat, as we got told as players and as senior players, sometimes it is [the scale of punishment] just different for some people. He is a role model, he is somebody the cricketing world looks up to, so I personally do not think that the fine was harsh enough," he added.
Coming to the Melbourne Test, Australia finished the opening day on a high as half-centuries from the top-four batters propelled the hosts to 311/6. While Labuschagne (72) ended as the top scorer for the day, Steve Smith was unbeaten on 68 at stumps.
On Day 2, Smith went on to hit a stunning century (140) while Australia’s lower-order did a fabulous job to take the team to a formidable 474 all-out in their first innings. Skipper Pat Cummins made a handy contribution of 49 runs with the bat.
