Kohli faces risk of being banned from next Test after umpire spats
Virat Kohli is at risk of being banned from the third Test after remonstrating with umpires yesterday.
The India captain, and the coach, Ravi Shastri, argued with the onfield officials after Nitin Menon’s decision to give England captain Joe Root not out lbw in the final over of the day from Axar Patel was upheld by the DRS system. Replays deemed the line of impact with Root’s back pad was “umpire’s call”.
Kohli already has two demerit points on his record over the past 24 months. If he was found guilty of dissent by the match referee in Chennai, Javagal Srinath, he would be sanctioned with up to four, depending on the severity of the offence. Just two more would bring Kohli a one-match suspension.
It was the second time in the day that Kohli had been involved in a spat with umpires: while he was batting, he remonstrated over being warned for running down the protected area in the middle of the wicket.
Kohli’s conduct led to criticism from former England captains. “Virat Kohli’s having a real go at the umpire. You can’t have this, I’m sorry,” Michael Vaughan said. “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. That’s a bad look.
“I think Virat Kohli goes looking for that. He needs that in his game. India like to think people are against them, they like the confrontation. It’s danger time for England.”
Sir Andrew Strauss said: “It’s not Virat’s place to say, ‘Why did you make that decision?’”
England spin coach Jeetan Patel
said that Kohli’s behaviour “revs up the crowd”.
He added: “He gets really involved and it’s probably one of his strengths. I feel he plays at his best when he’s passionate and he’s excited about what’s happening, and he’s got his influence.
“That’s the way he gets the best out of himself, the way he gets the best out of the crowd and his teammates follow him. That’s India at their best in India.”
Patel said he was “hopeful” that Moeen Ali’s love of Test cricket was back after he took four for 98 in India’s second innings to take his tally to eight wickets in the match.
“I love watching him bowl in any form of cricket and I think he has a lot to offer this group, especially around the changing room,” Patel said. “So, I hope that it’s enough of a carrot for him. I suppose the one thing that Mo wanted, well needed, out of red-ball cricket was a bit of love from the game. I think he’s got that. Hopefully he will score some runs and really fall in love with redball cricket again.”
It remains undecided whether Moeen will remain in India for the remainder of the Test series or go home to rest before returning for the Twenty20 series.
Moeen previously said: “I think I’m due to go home at some stage during the third and fourth but we’re not 100 per cent sure yet.”