Sydney: Annoyed by the crowd taunts, young India cricketer Virat Kohli today showed his middle finger to a section of crowd at the SCG during the second Test and may face a disciplinary action for the gesture.
As Indian bowlers struggled to contain Australian captain Michael Clarke (251 not out) and Ricky Ponting (134) during the course of their 288-run stand, Kohli was photographed raising his middle finger towards the spectators.
Kohli, however, justified his act on his twitter account after the second day's play.
"I agree cricketers don't have to retaliate. What when the crowd says the worst things about your mother and sister. the worst I've heard," tweeted Kohli.
To which England batsman Kevin Pietersen replied, tweeting, "ha ha ha ha ha!!! Welcome to Australia buddy!!"
Kohli again responded back to Pietersen, saying: "never heard crap like that. EVER."
Kohli may be charged with Level 1 of the ICC's Code of Conduct relating to "using language or gesture(s) that is seriously obscene, seriously offensive or of a seriously insulting nature to another player, player support personnel, umpire, match referee or any other third person during an international match".
If Kohli is found guilty, he could face a minimum penalty of having half of his match fee docked or a maximum penalty of a one-Test suspension.
However, so far the on-field umpires have not raised the issue with the match referee Ranjan Madugalle.
In a similar incident, Liverpool's striker Luis Suarez was banned for a match after indecently gesturing at a section of Fulham's fans during an English Premier League match against Fulham.
Last month, Kohli had been reprimanded for showing dissent at an umpire's decision during the third one-dayer against the West Indies in Ahmedabad.
After being given out lbw, he had stood his ground for a considerable time. Later he pleaded guilty to a Level 1 offence while accepting the proposed sanction from the match referee David Boon.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 04, 2012, 19:13