(This story is from The Quint’s archives and was first published on 5 November 2015. It is being republished to mark Virat Kohli’s 28th birthday.)
Virat Kohli may be the ‘chocolate boy’ of Indian cricket, but he has not been chocolatey enough when it comes to controversies.
The Quint takes a look at five instances when Virat Kohli was the ‘bad boy’ of Indian cricket.
1. When He Flipped the Bird
Virat Kohli on his first tour to Australia in 2011, showed his middle finger to the Sydney crowd after they hurled abuses at him when he was fielding the boundary line during the second Test of the series.
2. When He Fought With Gambhir in IPL
Virat Kohli, playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Gautam Gambhir, playing for Kolkata Knightriders, were involved in an ugly spat during the 2013 Indian Premier League.
After Virat Kohli got out against Kolkata, instead of walking back, he hurled some remarks which angered the Knightriders’ captain Gambhir.
Both of them then started abusing each other before Kolkata’s Rajat Bhatia intervened and stopped them.
3. When He Abused a Journalist
Virat Kohli abused a journalist after a practice session during the World Cup earlier this year. He used filthy language on the journalist as he thought that particular person had written an article about actress Anushka Sharma in the National Daily.
But later he was informed it was the wrong journalist, and Kohli apologised immediately.
4. When He Stayed With Anushka, Despite a BCCI Order Against Doing So
According to Daily Bhaskar, Virat stayed in the same hotel as Anushka’s in Australia during the 2015 World Cup.
The BCCI clearly disallowed the Indian players to stay with their wives, or girlfriends during the World Cup.
5. When He Called Anushka to the Dug Out
Virat called Anushka to meet him in the dug out during a washed out IPL 2015 game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils, when the BCCI code clearly disallows everybody, except the players and the officials with a BCCI/ICC approved ID cards.
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