India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia's Steve Smith had a chat ahead of the Test series. Apart from discussing their cricket career in the 30-minute chat, the two-star batters of the current era talked about a mutual respect.
Virat had asked the crowd to not boo Smith during the 2019 World Cup match between India and Australia. The Aussie was getting mocked by the Indian crowd for ball-tampering controversy which had led to a year-ban for him.
"What prompted you to approach the Indian crowd and ask them to stop booing me when we played our World Cup match?", Smith asked Kohli during a chat.
Smith had appreciated the support from Kohli and he also sent a message thanking him after the match that night. “I sent you a message that night saying ‘thank you, mate'. It was top class,” added Smith.
“To me, an incident had happened and you guys realized what had happened. You came back after a long time, having gone through everything you had to,” said Kohli. “I thought, in life, nothing can be that permanent. I felt it's not fair to target an individual personally,” he added.
Virat felt being competitive is different but things should also be looked at from the human side of it. “As much as you play against each other, there is a human side to things as well.
“At the end of the day, we are here chatting now. We have had a chat a few times during the IPL as well. Yes, you're competitive on the field but you don't want to go nasty as such. In the long term, you realize the importance of things from a larger perspective.
“I felt it wasn't right to do that (boo Smith) at that moment,” said Kohli, who received the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for this gesture.
