Kohli slammed for ‘clown-like behaviour’ in SA

NEW DELHI: South African left-arm spinner Paul Harris has bowled an off-the-field flipper to Virat Kohli, arguing that the Indian skipper behaved ‘like a clown’ during his team’s tour to South Africa and yet no action was taken against him by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Harris, who played 37 Tests for South Africa, went on to say on Twitter on Monday that the two-match suspension on Rabada, after being found guilty of a Level 2 ICC Code of Conduct offence of ‘inappropriate and deliberate physical contact with a player’, shows that ICC has a problem with Rabada or the South African team.

Incidentally, the ICC had sanctioned Kohli for repeatedly complaining to the umpires about a damp ball and then aggressively throwing it to the floor during the second test against South Africa in Pretoria. He was fined 25 percent of his match fee and received one demerit point.

Rabada received a fine of 50 per cent of his match fee and three demerit points after a disciplinary hearing following his denial of the charge.

Rabada has accumulated eight demerit points within a 24-month period, automatically leading to a two-match suspension. The incident happened in the 52nd over of Australia’s first innings of the second Test, when moving towards the slips, Rabada made contact with Steve Smith with his shoulder.

Earlier in the day, South Africa spearhead Vernon Philander took to Twitter to accuse Smith of initiating the shoulder contact with Rabada. Philander went on to say that Smith gave the shoulder to Rabada and is ‘just as guilty’ as the fast bowler. However, Philander was quick to backtrack and deleted the tweet, claiming his account was hacked.