Cricket in India is nothing short of another religion. India is that one country which doesn’t always need big tournaments to cheer for their country so that they win the sport. Even during traditional cricket series or games, the entire country stands tall to its feet to support the ‘Men in Blue’ (Indian Cricket Team).
So when it’s the time of the ICC Cricket World Cup, an event that happens only once every four years and the Indian Cricket Team played against the reigning World Champions, Australia, the excitement and enthusiasm of the fans and admirers naturally knew no bounds.
As far as the players are concerned, what more can they hanker for when they see the stadium ‘housefull’ with more than 90% occupancy by Indians and that too on English soil.
However, amidst all the hype and happiness, something happened during the match yesterday which didn’t please the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli for which he had to even go to the extent of apologizing on behalf of the Indian crowd.
Steven Smith is an Australian cricketer who was involved with a ‘ball-tampering’ controversy last year and was banned by the Australian Cricket Board for 12 months. Ball tampering is tampering the ball to make it behave unnaturally in favour of the bowling team and henceforth it is illegal in cricket. Although Steven Smith has served his punishment and has paid for it by completing his one year ban, the Indian crowd seemed to still make fun of him by ‘booing’ him.
This irked Virat Kohli and being the gentleman that he is, he immediately apologized to Steven Smith for the behavior shown by the fans. It was only after Kohli’s gesture that the fans stopped what they were doing. Virat Kohli’s gesture earned him love and respect from all corners of the country and everyone admired Kohli for his gesture.
One such person from Bollywood who seems to be extremely impressed with Virat Kohli’s antics is none other than Ayushmann Khurrana who feels Kohli is a ‘true icon’. Expressing his thoughts on the same, he recently tweeted.
With the World Cup fever having made its grip firm over the entire nation including Bollywood, it will be very interesting to see what happens in the future and especially on June 16, 2019 when India takes on Pakistan, a match which is being regarded as the biggest match of the World Cup.
