Kohli fined INR 24 lakh for slow over rate

Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli has been fined INR 24 lakh (USD 36,000 approx) for his team's slow over rate in the game against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday night. Kohli had already been found guilty of an over-rate offence earlier in the competition, when he was fined INR 12 lakh. Another such instance will fetch him a one-match suspension.

The rest of the Royal Challengers team were fined INR 6 lakh each.

The IPL has usually been severe on teams maintaining slow over rates. In 2010, Kings XI Punjab captain Kumar Sangakkara received a one-match ban for a third such offence, following fines of USD 20,000 and USD 40,000.

Opposition captain Gautam Gambhir also picked up a fine after Monday's game, for breaching the code of conduct article related to "abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings during a match".

Royal Challengers lost the game in dramatic fashion, going down by five wickets after Knight Riders had required 81 off 36. Yusuf Pathan and Andre Russell teed off at the end resulting in the asking rate coming crashing down, before Suryakumar Yadav joined Yusuf to take the team home. When Suryakumar swept chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi for four in the penultimate over to bring the equation to two runs required off eight balls, Gambhir showed his emotions by kicking a chair in the dugout. That reaction, presumably, lost him 15% of his match fee.