Virat Kohli asks Indian fans to stop calling Steve Smith a ‘cheat’ in India vs Australia CWC 2019 match

Kohli asks Indian fans to stop calling Steve Smith: Indian captain stopped the Indian fans from calling Steve Smith a “cheat”.

During the 14th match of the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 between India and Australia at The Oval, Indian fans welcomed Australia batsman Steven Smith with calls of “cheat” after he was sent to field on the boundary.

In what was a hurtful reaction on the part of the Indian fans, it is said that they stopped after India captain Virat Kohli told them to do so.

It all happened during the first innings of the Indian innings when Kohli was batting in the middle. After an over got over, Kohli walked a bit towards the boundary and asked fans to stop booing Smith or calling him a ‘cheat’.

Listening to their captain, the plentiful Indian fans started cheering Smith. Kohli’s act will undoubtedly go down under the Spirit of Cricket moments. It speaks highly of him to gesture something like that to the Indian fans. Kohli’s gesture was followed by Smith shaking hands with him.

As far as the match is concerned, Kohli had won the toss and chose to bat first. On the back of opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan’s 17th ODI century, Indian batsmen posted a formidable 352/5 in their allotted quota of 50 overs. Other than Dhawan, his opening partner and vice-captain Rohit Sharma (57) and captain Virat Kohli (82) scored individual half-centuries.

With bowling figures of 7-0-62-2, Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis was the pick of their bowlers.

Kohli asks Indian fans to stop calling Steve Smith:

Untitled from Jatin Hasija on Vimeo.

With India fans giving Steve Smith a tough time fielding in the deep, @imVkohli suggested they applaud the Australian instead.

Absolute class 👏 #SpiritOfCricket #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/mmkLoedxjr

— ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2019

How Twitter reacted:

Wow. How good is this from Virat Kohli? Steve Smith is sent to field on the boundary, and immediately cops the most hideous boos from the Indian fans. So Kohli turns to that stand and gestures for them to clap Smith. #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/GBTPaolOXh

— Sam Landsberger 🗯 (@SamLandsberger) June 9, 2019

[#SpiritOfCricket] Virat Kohli turned to the stand where Steve Smith was fielding in the deep & gestured the fans to cheer for him when he saw them booing Steve in a hideous manner. @BCCI @ICC @cricketworldcup #ViratKohli #TeamIndia #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/NbpXNoQXTn

— Saksham Alag (@saksham_alag) June 9, 2019

Nice touch as @imVkohli asks the Indian fan contingent at the Vauxhall end to stop shouting “cheater” at @stevesmith49 and instead cheer for the Indian captain #cwc19 #IndvAus @cricbuzz

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) June 9, 2019

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About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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