Felt very bad: Kohli says on Australian cricketers hit by ball-tampering scam
Adelaide, Dec 9 (IBNS): Indan skipper Virat Kohli on Sunday expressed his sympathy for banned Australian cricketers Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bencroft while speaking on the infamous ball-tampering scam which hit Cricket Australia this year.
The Australia trio were left in tears when they met the press after their arrival in Australia from South Africa.
Smith and Warner were banned from playing cricket for an year. Their bans will come to an end on Mar 30, 2019.
Cameron was banned for nine months.
Kohli, under whose leadership India is currently playing the Test series against Australia, said no cricketer should go through such a phase as the trio did in 2018.
"Well, it was sad to see,” Kohli was quoted as saying by Fox Sports.
“As big a thing as it became, you never want to see anyone go through that because I have known David and I have known Steve as well," he said.
Kohli said he felt bad for the Australian cricketers hit by the scam.
“Apart all the competitiveness on the field and all the battles that you have, you never want to see such a magnitude happen to two sportsmen and what happened after was, I felt, very bad. I felt like that the things happened after shouldn’t have happened," he said.
“The things that hit me the hardest was the way they were received at the airports and the way they were escorted out," he said.
“Those things to me felt like this is very, very hectic," he siad.
“It is not my place to comment on the decisions but to treat people like that for me it was unpleasant to see. I would never want to experience that as a cricketer," Kohli said.
Image: Virat Kohli Twitter page
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