Your message distasteful: Anushka Sharma slams Sunil Gavaskar for dragging her while criticising Virat Kohli

As Kohli had a bad day on field against Kings Xi Punjab during Thursday's match where he had dropped a couple of catches and was dismissed cheaply, Gavaskar said from the commentary box, "Ab jo lockdown tha toh, sirf Anushka ke bowling ki practice ki unhone, voh video dekhiye. Usse toh kuch nahi banna hai (He only practiced against Anushka's bowling during the lockdown. See the video. That won't help)."

In sharp reply to the former cricketer, Sharma wrote on Instagram, "That, Mr Gavaskar, your message is distasteful is a fact but I would love for you to explain why you thought of making such a sweeping statement on a wife accusing her of her husband's game? I'm sure over the years you have respected the private lives of every cricketer while commentating on the game. Don't you think you should have equal amount of respect for me and us?"

She added, "I'm sure you can have many other words and sentences in your mind to use to comment on my husband's performance from last night or are your words only relevant if you use my name in the process?

"Its 2020 and things still don't change for me. When will I stop getting dragged into cricket and stop being used to pass sweeping statements? Respected Mr Gavaskar, you are a legend whose name stands tall in this gentleman's game. Just wanted to tell you what I felt when I heard you say this."

Kohli's RCB suffered a heavy loss by 97 runs in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Thursday.

After dropping two catches, the Indian skipper was dismissed for just one.

Last year, former Indian cricketer Farooq Engineer had courted a controversy by saying he had seen all that the selectors were doing in the World Cup in England and Wales was fetching "cups of tea" for Anushka.

Following the statement, Anushka had shared a letter in public asking all people to refrain from dragging her name without proofs in their own opinions.

However later Engineer said that he had never intended to demean the Bollywood actress.