Kolkata: The contest to lift the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has been fiercely fought with both India and Australia going hard at each other to take the upper hand. The Australian media has played a particularly important part in the saga. After comparing the Indian skipper Virat Kohli to animals, certain Australian media houses have dubbed the India captain as the Donald Trump of world sport and accused him of spreading fake news regarding their players. Thankfully for Kohli a number of big names have come out in his support and have taken to social media to express their views.
Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, former Australian captain Michael Clarke and commentator Harsha Bhogle have openly defended Kohli. Bachchan who has always been quite vocal on social media wrote a message on Twitter where he said, “Aussi media calls Virat, Donald Trump of sports !! … thank you Aussi media for accepting that he is a winner and the PRESIDENT !!”
Clarke said that two or three Australian journalists were trying to tarnish the Indian skipper’s image. Clarke, who led Australia to the 2015 World Cup title has said that Kohli should not be ‘bothered’ by a couple of Australian journalists. “Comparing Virat Kohli with Donald Trump – what a load of s*** is that. What Virat did, even Smith would have. Bear in mind, I love Kohli and the Australian public love him. I always somehow find an Australian in him the way he plays and I absolutely love how he accepts challenges. It’s just two or three reporters who are trying to tarnish him but Virat shouldn’t be bothered,” said Clarke.
Bhogle also hit out at the “toxicity” afflicting the Test series and called for both sides to show restraint before the final Test that begins on Saturday at Dharamsala. “Friends in Australia tell me they are perturbed by the toxicity this series has generated. Cricket lovers in India saying so too,” Bhogle said on Twitter. “If we have to use toxicity and divisiveness to spread our game, we are using a short-term approach that can only be harmful,” added the veteran Indian TV cricket analyst. I am particularly perturbed by the fact that some of us in the media are promoting this divisiveness and taking sides to spread ill-will.”
(With inputs from The Indian Express)