India’s vice-captain Virat Kohli, who has long been modelling himself on the lines of Sachin Tendulkar, on Tuesday, plummeted to hurling filthy abuses at a journalist of a national daily in full public view.
The incident happened just when Kohli, after finishing his training session at the WACA, was walking back to the dressing room and spotted the journalist. To the horror of the journalist, Kohli started abusing him profusely and the tirade went on for some time before he stormed off.
Not just the journalist but also Kohli’s team-mates were shocked, not knowing what had provoked this extreme misbehaviour.
Team Director Ravi Shastri is learnt to have spoken to Kohli and advised him to keep his cool, saying it was unbecoming of a future India captain to misbehave publicly.
Once Kohli cooled down, he said he had been angry about an article that had appeared in the national daily on how his girlfriend Anushka Sharma had spent time in his hotel room during the England tour. Kohli thought that it was this particular journalist who had written that report.
When he was told that he was mistaken, Kohli called another journalist and, through him, apologized for the incident.