Pointing towards the fans — who were booing Steve Smith, Virat Kohli had asked them to show respect to Smith and the Australian has said that it was a lovely gesture from the Indian captain.
Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith. (Photo: IANS)
India skipper Virat Kohli had stopped Indian fans from booing former Australia skipper Steve Smith during their World Cup encounter in London on June 9. Pointing towards the fans, Kohli had asked them to show respect to Smith and the Australian has said that it was a lovely gesture from the Indian captain.
Smith said Virat’s gesture of stopping the Indian fans from booing him was “lovely”.
“It was a lovely gesture by Virat. It doesn’t really bother me what the crowds do to be perfectly honest. I am just blocking it all out but it was a lovely gesture from him,” Smith told reporters after Australia’s victory over Sri Lanka on Saturday.
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The drama had erupted during India’s clash against Australia on June 9 at The Oval when the Indian fans started booing Smith — who was fielding near the boundary — by chanting “cheater, cheater”. The cheater chant was in reference to Smith’s involvement in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal. Kohli, who was at the crease, gestured to the crowd to acknowledge the former Australian captain’s fielding instead of taking him on.
After the match, Kohli expressed his support for Smith during a press conference.
“Just because there are so many Indian fans here, I just didn’t want them to set a bad example, to be honest, because he didn’t do anything to be booed in my opinion,” the 30-year-old said.
“He’s just playing cricket. He was just standing there, and I felt bad because if I was in a position where something had happened with me and I had apologised, I accepted it and I came back and still, I would get booed, I wouldn’t like it, either.
“So I just felt for him, and I told him, I’m sorry on behalf of the crowd because I’ve seen that happen in a few earlier games as well and in my opinion that’s not acceptable,” he added.
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