When it comes to Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli, controversies have been as synonymous with his career as match-winning knocks. Known for his aggressive demeanor on field, Kohli has been at the center of a number of controversies but perhaps the biggest one came during the tour of Australia in 2012 when he was caught on camera showing the middle finger to Australian fans.
“The one thing I remember most is when I’d had enough of the Australian crowd at Sydney [in 2012] and I just decided to flick a [middle] finger at them,” he told Wisden Cricket Monthly when asked about the incident.
“The match referee [Ranjan Madugalle] called me to his room the next day and I’m like, ‘What’s wrong?’. He said, ‘What happened at the boundary yesterday?’. I said, ‘Nothing, it was a bit of banter’. Then he threw the newspaper in front of me and there was this big image of me flicking on the front page and I said, ‘I’m so sorry, please don’t ban me!’. I got away with that one. He was a nice guy, he understood I was young and these things happen.”
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{{/usCountry}}“I really laugh at a lot of the things I did when I was younger but I’m proud that I did not change my ways because I was always going to be who I am and not change for the world or for anyone else. I was pretty happy with who I was,” he added.
Kohli is currently under a lot of pressure after India conceded the five-match Test series against England after losing the fourth match in Southampton. The fifth Test will begin on August 7 at the Oval.