In a show of sportsmanship, India cricket team captain Virat Kohli defended Steve Smith during India against Australia ICC world cup match on Sunday, 9 June, at The Oval in London.
Smith was booed by the Indian cricket fans during the match and Kohli was quick to take a stand for him, both during and after the match in the post-match press conference. He also apologised to Smith on behalf of the fans.
“I just felt for him, and I told him, ‘I’m sorry on behalf of the crowd because I have seen that happen in a few earlier games as well.’ In my opinion, that’s not acceptable.”Virat Kohli
While Kohli apologised to Smith on the behalf of the fans, he said that if something like this had happened to him and he was booed even after apologising and accepting it, he would not like it either.
Speaking on the heat Smith received for the ball tampering case, Kohli in the press conference said “I think what's happened has happened long back. The guy's back you know he's trying to play well for his side even in the IPL I saw him. It's not good to see someone down like that, to be honest.”
He added, “I mean we've had issues in the past we've had a few arguments on the field but you don't want to see a guy you know feeling that heat every time he goes out to play. I mean what's happened has happened everyone's known that he's come back, he's worked hard, he's playing well for the side now.”
Speaking against the Indian fans’ action of booing Smith, Virat said "Just because there are so many Indian fans here, I just didn’t want them to set a bad example."
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