Indian captain Virat Kohli had a tense Saturday, June 22, as Afghanistan gave them a pretty good scare, almost chasing down 224 runs. It was only a hat-trick by Mohammad Shami and a brilliant 49th over from Jasprit Bumrah that saved face for India, as Mohammad Nabi was looking good to take his team home.
However, the day got worse for Virat Kohli, as he has been fined 25% of his match fees and got a demerit point for breaching the Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct, as he was guilty for excessive appealing during the match. The incident occurred in the 29th over of the Afghanistan innings, when Kohli advanced towards umpire Aleem Dar in an aggressive manner when appealing an lbw decision.
Kohli accepted the decision and accepted the sanction proposed by match referee Chris Broad of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, and as such, there was no need for a formal hearing. Kohli now has two demerit points after having got one demerit point during the Pretoria Test against South Africa on 15 January 2018. The charges were levied by on-field umpires Aleem Dar and Richard Illingworth, third umpire Richard Kettleborough and fourth official Michael Gough.
Kohli was one of the architects of India’s paltry score, making 67 runs and Jadhav helped by scoring a fifty, as other batsmen imploded against Afghan spin. The opposition batsmen made good contributions and finally, it was Nabi who scored an amazing fifty taking on the Indian bowlers and brought the team just 11 runs close to the target.
