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India skipper Virat Kohli and Australian batsman Steve Smith sat together for a casual chat on the eve of the first Test at the Adelaide Oval, beginning from Thursday.
In the informal conversation, both the genius stroke makers talked about the instance from the 2019 World Cup when Kohli had asked a section of Indian fans to cheer for Smith, during India’s battle with Australia at The Oval in London.
Kohli had urged Indian fans to stop booing Smith, who was fielding on the boundary line. The Delhi-lad even apologised to the former Aussie skipper on behalf of the crowd.
For his wonderful gesture, Kohli won the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award at the ICC awards in early January this year.
While discussing the whole episode during their chat, Smith asked: “What prompted you to approach the Indian crowd and ask them to stop booing me when we played our World Cup match?”.
I felt like it’s not fair to target an individual: Kohli
Kohli stated that he just acted impulsively when he advised the crowd to stop having a go at Smith. The 32-year-old said that he thought it is not fair to target an individual personally.
“I feel like in life; nothing can be that permanent that you carry it on for life. People make mistakes, and they learn from it, and I felt like it’s not fair to target an individual personally, that’s what I felt at that moment,” said Kohl in a short video shared by BCCI on Twitter.
Kohli articulated that there is always a competition between the players when they compete against each other, but there is a human side to the things as well, and one doesn’t want to cross the line.
“Instinctively I told them not to boo you because you were fielding there (on the boundary) for quite a bit. As much as you play against each other there’s a human side to things as well, and at the end of the day we’re here chatting now, we do have a chat a few times during the IPL as well. Yes, you’re competitive on the field, but you don’t want to go nasty as such. In the long term, you realise the importance of things from a larger perspective,” added Kohli.
SPECIAL – The two greats – @imVkohli & @stevesmith49 talk cricket.
Two batting geniuses sit down to talk about their love for the game, batting techniques & having more to life than just cricket.
You do not want to miss this!
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— BCCI (@BCCI) December 16, 2020
