Virat Kohli asks the Indian contingent to stop shouting “cheater” at Steve Smith

Steve Smith and David Warner have had to face the brunt of the fans for their wrong-doings. The fans in England have been constantly booing at them and putting them into an uncomfortable situation. When Australia took on India in London, the situation was no different for the former Australian skipper. Steve Smith was sent to field at the deep near the boundary line at the Vauxhall end. Immediately, the nonchalant Indian contingent present in the stands started booing at Smith.

The aficionadi shouted at him referring to him as a ‘cheater’. Indian skipper Virat Kohli made notice of this and took action immediately. He actually turned to that stand and gestured at the crowd not to boo at Smith. Instead, he signaled at them asking to clap for Steve Smith winning the hearts of the fans. It was great to see the Indian skipper express concern for his Australian counterpart and the fans absolutely loved it. Something of this sorts, coming from Virat, was unexpected and even took a few by surprise.

Sam Landsberger, a cricket journalist noticed this act from the 30-year-old and took it to Twitter to share the news with his followers. “Wow. How good is this from Virat Kohli? Steve Smith is sent to field on the boundary and immediately cops the most hideous boos from the Indian fans. So Kohli turns to that stand and gestures for them to clap Smith. #CWC19,” he wrote in his tweet.

The story of the first innings

The Indian batsmen were absolutely on fire after the team won the toss and elected to bat first. The openers laid a wonderful 127-run partnership and set to tone for the finishers. Shikhar Dhawan was excellent in the game and registered his 17th ODI century, his third in a World Cup game. While Rohit Sharma scored a fifty, skipper Virat Kohli anchored the innings and got out in the final over after scoring 82 runs.

Hardik Pandya and MS Dhoni played wonderful cameos towards the end as the pushed India’s total close to 350. While the former scored 48 off 27 balls, the wicket-keeper batsman smashed 27 runs in 14 balls. Thus, the team got to 352 runs at the end of 50 overs – the highest total Australia ever conceded in a World Cup game.