Indian captain Virat Kohli has said that he had apologised to Australian Cricketer Steve Smith after the latter was booed by the India’s supporters during India’s game against Australia at the Oval on Sunday.
Kohli told media after India’s win over Australia that Smith didn’t do anything to be booed.
“I just felt for him, and I told him, I’m sorry on behalf of the crowd because I’ve seen that happen in a few earlier games, as well, and in my opinion that’s not acceptable,” Kohli said.
Smith was banned by Cricket Australia for 12 months last year for his role in ball tampering case during Cape Town Test against South Africa.
He returned to international cricket action at the World Cup after completing his ban. Although he played the Indian Premier League in April as well.
The Indian skipper said he thinks that it’s time for him and others to move on from what happened.
“I think what’s happened has happened like long back, the guy is back, 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 goes out to play,” he said.
“What’s happened has happened. Everyone has known that. He’s come back. He’s worked hard. He’s playing well for his side now,” Kohli said.
The Indian skipper added that if he would have feel bad too if he was in place of Steven Smith there.
“He didn’t do anything to be booed in my opinion. He’s just playing cricket. He was just standing there, and I felt bad because if I were in a position where something had happened with me and I had apologised, I accepted it and I came back and still I would get booed, I wouldn’t like it either,” Kohli said.
“Just because there’s so many Indian fans here, I just didn’t want them to set a bad example,” he concluded.
