Kohli fined for dissent

Virat Kohli, the Indian batsman, has been fined 15% of his match fee for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct during his team's ODI against New Zealand in Dambulla on Wednesday.

Kohli pleaded guilty to a Level 1 offence and accepted the penalty imposed by match referee Alan Hurst 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, Kohli stood his ground and looked at the umpire for a considerable time before eventually leaving the middle. The New Zealand team had finished celebrating and their 12th man had brought the team drinks by the time Kohli had walked past the non-striker on his way to the pavilion.

"Accepting umpires' decisions is part and parcel of playing cricket," Hurst said, "and on this occasion Virat clearly showed dissent when he had been given out."

Since Kohli pleaded guilty to dissent 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.