Virat Kohli is known for his combative nature but against Australia in their 2019 World Cup clash on Sunday, the India captain showed his caring side.
During India’s first innings, Australia batsman Steve Smith was getting booed by an Oval crowd in London completely dominated by India fans. Smith was sent to the boundary line at the Vauxhall End of the ground and Indian supporters started to boo the Aussie batsman, seemingly in response to his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa in 2018 for which he was banned for a year. There were some chants of ‘cheater’ as well, according to ground reports.
Seeing this, Kohli decided to take matters into his own hands and asked that section of Indian fans to applaud and not boo Smith. He later went up to Smith and the two shook hands.
With India fans giving Steve Smith a tough time fielding in the deep, @imVkohli suggested they applaud the Australian instead.
— ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2019
Absolute class 👏 #SpiritOfCricket #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/mmkLoedxjr
Kohli was lauded on social media for his gesture. Recently, South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada had created a stir by claiming that Kohli is immature as he can’t handle verbal volleys directed at him. Some on social media also tagged Rabada in their response to the Kohli-Smith gesture.
