Kohli cops fine but escapes ban for Konstas bump

Virat Kohli has escaped major sanctions for his bump on Australia debutant Sam Konstas after the International Cricket Council announced he had accepted a fine worth 20 per cent of his match fee.

While Konstas played down the incident after play on Thursday, the revered India star was widely condemned for bumping into the teenager in the opening session of the Boxing Day Test. 

Ricky Ponting and Ravi Shastri were among those to suggest Kohli was in the wrong after he barged into the batter between overs, sparking a tense exchange of words between the pair.

But Kohli will be free to play in the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test at the SCG after match referee Andy Pycroft deemed the incident to be a Level One offence, effectively a slap on the wrist. Kohli has also been given one demerit point against his name for the incident, which will remain on his disciplinary record for 24 months.

A Level Two offence could have seen him suspended for the Sydney Test.

The ICC described Kohli's conduct as negligent and inappropriate.

"Kohli admitted the offence and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft ... so there was no need for a formal hearing," the ICC said in a statement on Thursday night.

"The incident occurred at the end of the 10th over of Australia's innings, when Kohli walked up to batter Sam Konstas and negligently bumped his shoulder with the batter inappropriately."

Konstas suggested his contact with Kohli had been accidental.

"I was just doing my gloves (up) and I think he accidentally bumped me. But I think that's just cricket, just the tension," the 19-year-old told reporters.

Asked about his innings more generally and whether India tried to intimidate him, Konstas said: "I was just trying to get in the contest and whoever I was facing, just trying to bring the best version of myself. 

"Obviously, it got heated at times, which was good for me. I feel like that brings the best out of me. Hopefully I go well next innings."

Usman Khawaja was batting with Konstas at the time of the incident but said he did not see what had transpired before he intervened to calm things down.

"I was walking the other way and just as I turned around, I saw them collide," Khawaja, who put his arm around Kohli after the contact, told the ABC.

"I was like, 'What's going on here?' Sammy was going, he was on fire, his beans were obviously going. I just came to diffuse the situation.

"I like the emotion. There was a bit of chirp going on between Sam and (Jasprit) Bumrah and Virat the whole time. But I didn't want it to be tainted by any physical contact.

"I've known Virat a long time … we've been mates a long time. I was like (to Konstas), 'Chill. I'll talk to him. You chill, and I'll sort this out'."

India's assistant coach Abishek Nair denied seeing the incident at the time, insisting he was "not aware of what happened, why it happened and if anything happened". 

He added: "When you play a game like that, there's always going to be emotions, but I'm pretty sure that it's not as big as it seems."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: Match drawn

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal