Kohli fined 50 per cent match fee for showing middle finger

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India's middle-order batsman Virat Kohli was fined 50 per cent of the match fee for showing his middle finger to the crowd on the second day of the second cricket Test at the SCG here.

"Mr Kohli, along with the manager of the team, Mr Shivlal Yadav, were summoned by match referee Ranjan Madugalle this morning. The player pleaded guilty and accepted his mistake. The matter is now closed," said media manager G.S. Walia here this morning.

Kohli was pictured showing his middle finger to the crowd on the second day when Indians were on the ropes and Australians were piling runs by hundreds in the middle.

The level two offence for breaching the ICC's code of conduct relates to "using language or gesture(s) that is seriously obscene, seriously offensive and of a seriously insulting nature to another player, player support personnel, umpire, match referee or any other third person during an international match."

The minimum punishment for such an offence is 50 per cent of the match fee or a maximum penalty of a one-Test suspension. Kohli had earlier used twitter to present his personal viewpoint on the matter.

"I agree cricketers don't have to retailiate, what when the crowd says the worst things about your mother and sister, the worst I've heard," tweeted Kohli.

Former England skipper and one-time team-mate of Kohli in the IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kevin Pietersen offered a word of sympathy to the young batsman on twitter.

"Welcome to Australia buddy ... you beat them and they start abusing their own." It seems a Sydney Test between the two nations can't pass without a controversy.

During India's last tour of Australia in 2007-08, a massive row erupted on the 'monkeygate' issue and nearly led to the abandonment of the tour and a diplomatic row between the two nations.