Indian captain Virat Kohli was under the scanner after images emerged of him applying sugary saliva on the cricket ball during the first Test against England at Rajkot.

South Africa’s stand-in captain Faf du Plessis was charged for the same offence, but Kohli got away as the incident came to notice more than five days after it took place.

According to the ICC’s rules and regulations, an incident – for it to be investigated – has to be reported within five days of its occurrence and that was not satisfied when it came to Kohli’s case.

The Indian skipper, speaking before the third Test at Mohali, just laughed off the allegations.

“This (ball-tampering allegations) is just to take focus away from series. To me, the newspaper article doesn’t matter over ICC’s decision. I don’t read newspapers and was told five days later that such things happened, I just laughed it off,” said Kohli.

India and England face off in the third Test on Saturday at Mohali. The hosts hold a 1-0 lead going into the game, having won the second Test at Vizag by 246 runs.