Australian daily claims Virat Kohli hit official with a bottle during 2nd Test

What’s the story?

Just when all the controversies related to the 2^nd Test between India and Australia seemed to be fading away, an Australian newspaper – The Daily Telegraph made a bizarre claim regarding Indian captain Virat Kohli and coach Anil Kumble by targeting them and accusing them of indecent behaviour during the test match held at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore.

According to the newspaper, Virat Kohli was seen hurling an energy drink bottle towards an Australian official during the match. The report also accused Kumble of reclaiming his role as the “puppeteer behind the scenes” during the match.

“Kohli might be the aggressor in the brazen campaign India is running against Australia’s integrity — even striking an Australian official with an orange Gatorade bottle — but coach Kumble, one of the main instigators of the Monkeygate fiasco, would appear to have reclaimed his role as the puppeteer behind the scenes,” the report said.

“International coaches have access to the officials’ box, but it’s highly unusual for them to make contact mid-match, and Kumble’s actions appear indicative of India’s overall attitude that they can dictate to the lawmakers of the game,” said the newspaper about Kumble

It’s understood Kumble has also made his fury known about the actions of match referee Chris Broad during the Test, complaints which are now to be passed onto the ICC by the BCCI,” they continued.

Details:

The accusations did not stop there as the report went on to mention that Kohli was also seenother'sswearing in the direction of the Australian dressing room and was seen using a throat-slitting gesture to send off Peter Handscomb after his dismissal in the 2^nd innings.

Adding fuel to the fire, the Daily Telegraph also felt that the “Spirit of the game” was killed by the Indian captain.

“The spirit of the game notion has been pronounced dead in the game many times before, but Kohli — a law unto himself — would appear to have killed it off once again with his behavior some of the worst by an international captain since villainous Sri Lankan leader Arjuna Ranatunga,” claimed the newspaper.

The Daily Telegraph even went on to accuse the ICC of giving a “green light for complete anarchy to break out in Test cricket.”

In case you didn’t know...

There was no shortage of drama in the 2nd Test between the two sides in Bangalore as players from both sides were constantly at each others throats throughout the game and sledged each other when the oppurtunity arose. Things went out of hand when Steve Smith was seen looking at his dressing room after being dismissed in the 2nd innings in a bid to ask them whether he should review the decision or not. Kohli was clearly unhappy at Smith’s action and vented out his frustration in the post match conference.

Kohli also took a dig at former Australian cricketer Ian Healy who said that he was losing respect for Kohli because of his lack of respect towards Australian cricketers and officials.A lot of former cricketers too reacted to the incidents which took place during the match.

Extra Cover: Shoaib Akhtar hits at Ian Healy for his 'respect' jibe on Virat Kohli

Parallels from history

This is not the first time that such bizarre accusations were made against the Indian cricket team by a media house from the opposing country. During England’s tour of India, The Daily Mail had accused Kohli of tampering the ball after India’s win against England at Vizag. They had produced inconclusive evidence to show that Kohli used the residue of a sweet in his mouth to shine the ball.

Extra Cover: British tabloid levels ball tampering claims at Virat Kohli

Sportskeeda’s take

These are just allegations being made by the newspaper as there has been no confirmation of these incidents involving Kohli or Kumble and the BCCI has not responded to the claims just yet.

It will be interesting to see how Kohli and Kumble react to the allegations and whether any action would be taken against the newspaper if the claims are found to be false. With a lot of tension between the two sides after the 2^nd Test, it looks like the Australian newspaper wants to further heat things up ahead of the 3^rd Test at Ranchi.