India batsman Virat Kohli has been fined 15 per cent of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during the tri-series ODI against New Zealand in Dambulla on Wednesday.
Kohli pleaded guilty to a Level 1 offence and accepted the proposed sanction from Alan Hurst of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees after play concluded. He was found to have breached 2.1.3 of the code which relates to "showing dissent at an umpire's decision".
After being given out in the sixth over, the player stood his ground and looked at the umpire for a considerable time before eventually leaving the middle. This was considered to be a show of dissent, a fact accepted by the player himself. Because Kohli pleaded guilty and accepted the proposed sanction there was no need for a formal hearing.
The charge was brought by on-field umpires Asad Rauf and Asoka de Silva, third umpire Kumar Dharmasena and fourth official Gration Liyanage.
"Accepting umpires' decisions is part and parcel of playing cricket and on this occasion Virat clearly showed dissent when he had been given out," said Hurst.
India, spurred by an entertaining 110 from 93 balls from Virender Sehwag beat New Zealand by 105 runs to earn a meeting with Sri Lanka in Saturday's final.
