Harbhajan Singh lashes out at the Australian journalist for terming Virat Kohli as a 'sweeper'

Australian journalist Dennis Freedman gave us an example of the absolutely disrespectful Aussie media when he used a derogatory term to describe Virat Kohli on September 12th. In his tweet, the ill-mannered individual termed the Indian captain as a ‘sweeper’ which grabbed a lot of attention on Twitter. Fans all over India and even Pakistan ganged up together to slam the journalist on the micro-blogging site for his shameful take on one of greatest cricketers of the generation.

Indian off spinner Harbhajan Singh expressed his views on the matter while he spoke to India Today. The veteran spinner termed the act as a stupid one and went on to mention that no cricketer deserves this kind of disrespect. According to Harbhajan, all humans should be equally respected irrespective of their nationality.

What Harbhajan had to say:

“Shame on this guy to actually put such a comment. It is very stupid of this guy to write something on Virat Kohli or for that matter anyone. You have got to maintain the dignity and understand who we are talking about and you do not need to show anyone down. At the end of the day we are all human beings whether we are Australians, Indians or Pakistanis. Let us just respect the fact that we are human beings without putting anyone down,” said Harbhajan.

The Punjab-born star asked Virat Kohli to stay away from these provocations and maintain his standard. Harbhajan mentioned that this type of incidents are common when you reach the level of success Virat Kohli has.

“I do not think that Virat needs to respond to everyone because when an elephant walks on the street then there are a lot of dogs that bark. Virat Kohli is an elephant and he does not need to give answers to all these guys who are commenting on him or saying things about him because they can never be someone like Virat Kohli, it is as simple as that,” added Harbhajan.

Harbhajan Singh pointed out that Kohli will be a big factor and will determine the outcome of the series. According to Harbhajan, the Aussies need to think beyond keeping Kohli away from scoring runs in order to stand a chance to win the contest.

“I don’t know what Smith means by keeping Virat Kohli quiet, whether he means not giving him runs to score or to keep him from talking verbally when Virat is out in the middle. To be honest if I was in the Australian squad I would be thinking more about cricket than keeping Kohli quiet.” he added.

“Obviously they will have to bowl well as Virat is the best batsman in the world. Virat will play a big part in this series but not to forget there are other crucial players who can win games for India,” says Harbhajan.

Speaking about the other recent cases where cricketers like Mohammad Kaif, Irfan Pathan and Mithali Raj fell victim to social media abuse, Harbhajan urged everyone to be like a family and stop pulling down each other.

“Social Media is something in which you can express yourself and say what you feel about anything to your friends, fans and countrymen. There is no harm talking about certain things but some of them get excited about small things like spelling mistakes, what we wear etc.” stated Harbhajan.

“So let us not put each and everyone down, let us be united and be together. There have been instances when people have targeted Irfan or Mohd Shami as members of their own community go against them and I do not know why. But in the end they are human beings, they (sportsmen) would like to do things in their own way so let them be happy and you be happy in your own zone and respect each and everyone’s privacy,” concluded Harbhajan.