World Cup 2019: Virat Kohli apologizes to Steve Smith on behalf of the crowd who booed him

What's the story?

Indian captain Virat Kohli revealed what he had said to Steve Smith when the Indian crowd booed him while Smith was fielding at the boundary line during the game against India.

In case you didn't know...

Former Australian captain Steve Smith and David Warner have served the one year ban due to ball tampering saga which happened last year against South Africa in the Test series. The ban period ended just before the World Cup and the two Australian stars resumed the International cricket during the World Cup.

The heart of the matter

India played their second game of the World Cup against Australia at The Oval cricket stadium. During the Indian innings, the Indian crowd was chanting at Steve Smith as 'Cheater' who was fielding at the boundary line. Immediately Virat Kohli asked them to stop that and told them to cheer for him. During the post-match press conference, Kohli talked about the scenario.

"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 apologized and accepted it and I came back and still I get booed, I wouldn't like it either."

Virat Kohli apologized to the former Australian captain on behalf of the crowd.

"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."

What's next?

The heart-warming gesture from the Indian captain was appreciated by everyone. Kohli has set a great example for others to follow. Steve Smith had made a mistake and has served the punishment. When someone is trying to retrieve the past pride it's not right to abuse them by keeping talking about past things. Steve Smith has shown great form with the bat ever since he made a return to the international cricket and will hope to continue his run when the Aussies take on Pakistan on Wednesday.

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