What is the fine that Kohli, Gambhir, and Naveen will pay? Who will foot the bill? Here are all the specifics about the IPL Code of Conduct and franchise rules.
It’s been three days after Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir clashed following an IPL 2023 match between the Lucknow Super Giants and the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana Stadium, but the buzz around it hasn’t died down. The sight of two prominent names in Indian cricket nearly colliding on the cricket pitch was so unexpected that luminaries like Sunil Gavaskar and Virender Sehwag felt the ‘100% fine’ levied by the BCCI was insufficient. They believed they should have received harsher punishment.
For their on-field behavior in the IPL, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli were deducted full match money.
According to the IPL Code of Conduct, there are multiple levels of offense, and there is a stated fine for each violation or breach of the conduct. In consultation with the on-field umpires, the match referee ruled that Kohli and Gambhir’s actions violated Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct, which deals with “all types of conduct that bring the game into disrepute.”
According to the IPL Playing Conditions, “the person lodging the report shall determine where on the range of severity the conduct lays.” In this situation, the match referee and umpires determined that Kohli and Gambhir’s transgression comes under Level 2, and they were penalized 100% of their match costs. LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq, who was also found in violation of Article 2.21, was fined 50% of his match fee as his offence was deemed to be a Level 1.
Aside from whether the full match fee deduction was sufficient for the uproar Kohli and Gambhir caused on Monday, there was another debate going on simultaneously. What is the fine that Kohli, Gambhir, and Naveen will pay? In contrast to international matches, the IPL match fee is not fixed. It is determined by several factors, including the player’s auction price, his real wage if he is retained (as Kohli is), and the number of matches played by the team in a season.
Kohli, for example, is reportedly paid 15 crore per year by RCB. If we consider the guaranteed 14 matches that RCB – or any other franchise – will play in a season, his match cost will be roughly 1.07 crore. If RCB reaches the playoff then the amount will be less.
Some teams, however, make players, including captains, pay for Code of Conduct violations, including over-rate offenses.
What about Gambhir, though? LSG’s mentor is a former India opener who, unlike Kohli or Naveen, does not have an auction or retention price linked to him. Whatever he is paid by LSG is strictly between him and the franchise owners. All of the figures floating around on social media are purely speculative. In terms of who pays the sum, it is likely to be the same as RCB. The fine for Gambhir and Naveen will be paid by LSG.
