CB skipper slams critics for holding actress girlfriend responsible for India’s failure in WC semis; says those blaming her should be ashamed of themselves
PTI (MID-DAY; April 11, 2015)

Kolkata: Deeply hurt with the attack on his personal life after India’s World Cup semifinal loss to Australia, Test skipper Virat Kohli yesterday let his emotions speak and lashed out at his critics for blaming his girlfriend Anushka Sharma for his failure.

An emotional-looking Kohli issued a statement after the conclusion of IPL match eve press conference and said everyone should take note of it. Kohli has already spoken about the issue at a promotional event yesterday morning, saying those who blamed Anushka “should be ashamed of themselves”, but the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper apparently felt the need to make an official statement a day before they begin their IPL campaign against KKR. “I just want to speak something on this issue and want everyone to take note of it and the stuff that happened after the semi-final after the World Cup,” Kohli said.

Disrespectful

Kohli was bold enough to mention the name of his actor girlfriend Anushka, a Bollywood heartthrob who was at the centre of controversy after his one- run dismissal in the semi- finals. “The way
people reacted to my personal life and Anushka in particular was really disrespectful. I wanted to put out there in public. At a human level, I was very hurt and I wanted to express that for quite a long time but I wanted to take a break for a few days,” he said.

“For people to react that way and to see whatever they did, blaming her for our loss and my failure was absolutely hurtful for me. It’s shameful to see that people can react like that to one loss,” he added.

Kohli said at the end of the day, they were also human beings and should be respected as such. “I just wanted to express that and get it out there because it’s very important for people to know how we feel about these things and that people should be respected more than they're in these sort of times," he reiterated.

Kohli was unusually open in his media interaction as he didn’t forget to mention his performance during the past five years. “In the last five years, the number of matches I’ve helped India, the consistency with which I’ve played is more than anyone else in the team. I don’t think there’s anybody else in the team who has done better than me,” Kohli said with the same swagger one finds in his batting.

Losing faith in people
Kohli feels that now he knows “whom to trust” after the public outrage over his poor show against Australia. “It makes you lose faith in a lot of people. It’s a good thing in a way. You get to know who’s with you and who’s not. It was not in my control,” Kohli said