Australia's 19-year-old Sam Konstas made a stunning debut with a score of 60, which included an impressive ramp six off a 145kmph delivery from Jasprit Bumrah. However, his performance was somewhat overshadowed on Thursday by a confrontation involving India's veteran batter Virat Kohli. The two got into a heated exchange at the end of the 10th over during the first day of the fourth Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series. Kohli ended up being fined 20% of his match fees and received a demerit point for intentionally bumping into Konstas, which ignited the altercation. Surprisingly, the former India captain avoided a suspension, contrary to what many had anticipated.

After facing the last ball of the 10th over, Konstas turned to head to the other end of the pitch. Meanwhile, Kohli, who was casually tossing the ball, walked in from outside the crease and collided with the Aussie opener. This led to a fiery exchange of words until Konstas' partner, Usman Khawaja, and umpire Michael Gough stepped in to defuse the situation.

Why wasn't Virat Kohli suspended by the ICC?

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri called the incident "unnecessary," which led to a lot of speculation about whether Kohli would face serious consequences, like a suspension. However, the 36-year-old managed to avoid missing the fifth Test, as the ICC decided to fine him 20 percent of his match fees and give him one demerit point instead.

To figure out why Kohli wasn’t suspended, we should check out Article 2.12 of the ICC Code of Conduct, which outlines the penalties he faced. It states that "any form of inappropriate physical contact is prohibited in cricket." This means players can get in trouble if they intentionally, recklessly, or carelessly bump into another player or umpire.

When it comes to a breach of Article 2.12, there are four levels of offense, and several factors are considered to determine how serious the breach is: (i) the context of the situation, including whether the contact was intentional, reckless, negligent, or avoidable; (ii) the force of the contact; (iii) any injury caused to the person involved; and (iv) the identity of the person who was contacted.

If Kohli had actually touched the umpire or match referee, he would’ve faced a Level 3 or 4 penalty. But since the incident with Konstas happened, he could only be looked at for a Level 1 or 2 offense.

When it comes to figuring out how serious the offense was, replays indicated it was a "deliberate" action. However, considering the "force of contact" and whether there was any injury to the other person, Kohli managed to avoid a harsher penalty. So, he ended up with just one demerit point.

Also, there’s no record of a player getting four demerit points for a shoulder barge. The highest was three, which happened when Kagiso Rabada made contact with Steve Smith during the 2018 Test series between South Africa and Australia. In fact, only three players in history have received four demerit points—two for ball tampering and one for arguing with the umpire.

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