CA chief Kevin Roberts stands by Virat Kohli after India captain gets booed in Sydney

The ongoing Test series against Australia is one of those rare ones in which Indian captain Virat Kohli did not end as the top scorer for his side. He would not mind it though since as a team, India have done much better than their opponents and so would not the fans. But the Australian fans, despite their team’s poor show in the series, failed to raise themselves above the partisan attitude and booed the batsman yet again in Sydney on Day 1 of the game when he went out to bat.

This was the third instance when he experienced an unfriendly welcome and this time, he found an ally in none other than the CEO of Cricket Australia Kevin Roberts. For Kohli, getting booed on foreign soil is not new. He faced the same in England last year and in Adelaide and Melbourne on this tour.

The booing of the Indian captain left former Australia captain Ricky Ponting disappointed and in Sydney, it was Roberts who expressed his displeasure over the same. As a batsman, Kohli though was not at his best, scoring just 282 runs in seven innings with one century, compared to 593 scored in five Tests in England. During India’s last Test series in Australia in 2014-15, Kohli scored a staggering 692 runs in four Tests, giving Steve Smith a strong chase.

Respect visitors

“I don’t like seeing that,” Roberts was quoted as saying by foxsports.com.au on the matter of the crowd booing Kohli. He also urged the Australian fans, who have an old rivalry with the Indian captain dating back to his first tour of Australia in 2012, to support the game and respect the visitors.

“The game is bigger than all of us, we need to respect our visitors, give them the best possible experience of visiting our country, and then hopefully beat them on the field.” Roberts took over a couple of months ago after longtime CEO James Sutherland stepped down in the wake of the Sandpaper gate that shook Australian cricket.

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