Kohli comes to booed Smith's defence at the Oval during World Cup.
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Steve Smith thanking Virat Kohli after the over.
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Virat Kohli led Team India, registered their second successive victory in ICC CWC 2019 by defeating the 5 times Champion Australia
by 36 runs at Oval. But the incident which attracted all the
cricket fraternity was when smith was booed by the Indian fans while he was
fielding at the boundary rope.
Virat Kohli was not pleased with malignity of
the Indian contingent towards Steve Smith. Kohli was seen gesturing towards the
crowd to clap for Smith and not to be so negative towards the former
Australian Captain.
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Kohli came to Smith’s aid, gesturing Indian supporters
to applaud Smith.
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Kohli said he didn't want the Indian fans
to set a bad example and also apologised to Steve Smith on behalf of the fans
after sections of the crowd jeered the former Australian captain while he was
fielding in the deep and when he was walking in to bat during the 2019 World
Cup match between India and Australia at the Oval in London.
Smith was first booed, with chants of 'cheater,
cheater,' making the rounds when he was fielding at third man near the Vauxhall
end. Hardik Pandya had just been dismissed, and the crowd tried to get under
Smith's skin with the chants. Kohli, who was batting at the time, looked up
towards that section of the stadium and gestured to cut it out. He instead made a 'clap'
gesture and pointed towards Smith. Kohli also did the same when Smith walked
past, with both players shaking hands.
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Virat Kohli has stood up for former Australian
counterpart Steve Smith, quietening the jeers of Indian supporters at the Oval.
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The second instance happened as Smith
walked out to bat during Australia's big chase. Another section of the crowd
this time booed and started the same chants again. Kohli, who was fielding
at mid wicket then, looked up and made a folded hand sign, before asking them
to cut it out again.
Besides all this, Indian skipper Virat Kohli, was still keen to see
the back of Steve Smith as a batsman at The Oval after coming to his defense
earlier. The Indian captain makes the "T" signal to
ask for umpire's review during the match on Bhuvneshwar Kumar's bowling. Smith went on to top score for Australia with
69, but his team fell short by 36 runs.
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Kohli took review against Smith for LBW.
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Speaking about the incident in the post-match
press conference, Kohli said he didn't want the Indian fans to set a bad
example by booing Smith.
"There are so many Indian fans here, I just
didn't want them to set a bad example to be honest. He didn't do anything to be
booed, in my opinion. He's just playing cricket. I mean he's just standing there and I
felt bad because if I was in a position where something had happened with me
and I'd apologised and accepted it and I came back and still I get booed, I wouldn't like
it either. So I just felt for him and told him 'sorry
for... on behalf of the crowd'. We've seen that happen in a few earlier games
as well. In my opinion that's not acceptable."
Virat came in support of Smith and Warner after they
were booed by the crowd.
Kohli is the first player to make such a
statement to a crowd since the return of Smith and Warner in to International Cricket. They suffered a one year ban after the ball tampering saga which took place on 28th March 2018 in Cape Town.
Smith, who served out his ban for his role in
the sandpaper-gate scandal, has made a return to the Australian team and was
subjected to similar treatment from the opposition fans during Australia's game
against Afghanistan. Warner, who was also banned alongside Cameron Bancroft,
was also booed in Bristol.
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Smith and Warner were booed during the Afghanistan
encounter.
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Most notably, the India captain accused
Smith of cheating in 2017 when he looked to the dressing room before deciding
whether to review an lbw decision against India.
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Virat Kohli during the Post match press conference.
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"Look, what's happened has happened like
long back. The guy's back and and 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. 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 feeling that heat every time he's going out to play. What's happened has
happened and everyone knows that. He's back, he's worked hard and he's playing
well for his side," Kohli added.
Australia's all-rounder Glenn Maxwell said it
indicated the two teams were quite close, away from the on-field aggression. Maxwell said, "I'm not surprised because we do get along
as individuals with him really well off the field."
"All we want to do is play our cricket hard
and he does that, he gets in opposition faces," Maxwell added.
Nice work
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