Virat Kohli Fined For Excessive Appealing Against Afghanistan

India skipper Virat Kohli has been fined by the International Cricket Council after the thrilling game against Afghanistan on Saturday. India survived a massive scare to beat Afghanistan by 11 runs and continue their unbeaten start to the World Cup.  While the popular expectation was that India would have an easy day on the field, Afghanistan proved it wrong.

The Gulbadin Naib-led side gave India a run for their money before losing the thriller in the very final over of the match. India were staring down the barrel after finishing their innings on a modest 224 for 8 on a tough Southampton track.

Batting first, India started disastrously as they lost their in-form opener Rohit Sharma for just 1. Mujeeb Ur Rahman castled Rohit with a gem of a delivery. A 57-run stand between KL Rahul and Virat Kohli steadied the ship before the former played a rash shot to get out.

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Just like Rahul, Vijay Shankar also got the start but threw it away and departed for 29. Virat Kohli was looking at ease and was scoring freely. However, with MS Dhoni struggling to get going from one end, Kohli fell for 67 while trying to play a fierce cut. Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav then steadied the innings but could not score freely. Jadhav went on to score his fifty but managed only 52 runs from 68 balls. Hardik Pandya also struggled to bat freely as India finished on a modest total.

But it was India's pace duo that had the last laugh with @Jaspritbumrah93 adjudged Player of the Match and @MdShami11 taking a hat-trick to seal victory.

See all of the wickets here ?#TeamIndia | #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/MAlVGTmUlC

— ICC (@ICC) June 22, 2019

In reply, Afghanistan remained in contention throughout. India kept the scoring rate under check and took wickets at crucial junctures but Mohammad Nabi made life difficult for them. Nabi scored a fighting fifty and remained till the last over before Mohammed Shami finished off things. With 16 runs needed from the final over, Nabi hit the first ball for a four. However, Shami picked up a sensational hat-trick to guide India to a thrilling win.

India are now third in the points table with 9 points from five games. The win, however, is a bit soured by the fine imposed on Virat Kohli by the ICC. The governing body of the game has docked 25% of Kohli’s match fee for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for excessive appealing. In addition to the fine, one demerit point was added to the disciplinary record of Kohli.