Virat Kohli accuses Australia of ‘crossing the line’ in Bengaluru Test

Virat Kohli

Bengaluru, March 7 – Accusing the Australians of repeatedly seeking clarification from support staff housed in front of television screens and laptops in the dressing room on the usage of the Decision Review System (DRS), India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday claimed that he had reported about the incident to match referee Chris Broad.

“I saw that two times happening when I was batting out there. I pointed it out to the umpires, that it’s happened twice and I have seen their (Australia’s) players looking up there for confirmation, and that’s why the umpire was at him (captain Steve Smith),” Kohli said in the post-match press conference.

“Because we observed that and we told the match referee as well, and we told the umpires they had been doing that for the last three days and that had to stop.”

“There’s a line that you don’t cross on the cricket field, sledging and playing against the opponents is different. I don’t want to mention the word, but it falls into that bracket. I would never do something like that on the cricket field,” he added.

When a reporter asked if that word was ‘cheating’, Kohli responded without a hint of a smile: “I didn’t say that, you did.”

“I don’t want to say more on that, the videos are out there for everyone to see and it was getting repetitive and that’s why the umpires knew that it might happen again.”

Kohli said that during his brief stay at the crease in both the innings of the second Test, he saw the Australians seeking the dressing room’s consent on the use of DRS.

“I saw it two times when I was batting, I can vouch for that,” he said.

“We take our decisions on the field ourselves, we don’t look for confirmation upstairs. I think that’s one thing that’s pretty consistent with us,” he added.