Kohli accuses England over spirit of cricket

Virat Kohli turned up the heat on Eoin Morgan before today’s first one-day international by accusing England of not acting in the spirit of cricket over a disputed catch during the twenty20 series. the india captain claimed England put pressure on umpire Nitin Menon to give a ‘soft signal’ of out when Dawid Malan’s tumbling catch in the fourth game was referred to the tV official. Four minutes of replays and deliberation by Virender Sharma proved inconclusive and he had little option but to rule Suryakumar Yadav out, upholding a soft signal given by Menon 70 yards away from Malan’s low catch. ‘We have to consider how a fielding team respond to a dismissal that is claimed like that, because you have to then question what the guidelines are and what the spirit of the game is,’ said Kohli ahead of today’s first of three 50-over matches in Pune. ‘if something like that happened with the india team overseas, there would be a totally different conversation about the spirit of cricket. it is a serious thing (soft signals) that needs to be

considered because there is a lot at stake.’ Kohli, who has walked a disciplinary tightrope throughout the tour, also questioned England’s decision to send Moeen Ali home for a break before the last two Tests. Moeen has returned for the white-ball leg of the tour but was left out of all five T20 matches. ‘I don’t know what the dynamics of the rotation policy were,’ added Kohli. ‘But he would have been a very strong addition to their Test side and brought more balance to their T20 team.’