Mumbai : Indian batting star Virat Kohli was always a no-nonsense man on the field; on Monday, after his former girlfriend, Anushka Sharma, was abused online, Virat lashed out at social media trolls, proving that he will not take nonsense in public either. More important, he stood up for an ex-girlfriend which immediately got him kudos online.
This is not the first time that Anushka has been targeted: there are many who take a dig at her at the drop of a hat, for anything that goes for a toss in his cricket career. Sharma was subjected to similar trolling after Kohli flopped in the ODI World Cup semifinal against Australia last year.
Incidentally, on Sunday, Kohli’s form was never in question: in fact, he had cracked a sublime 82* off 51 balls.
Kohli’s message to the online bullies on Twitter and Instagram was loud and emphatic: “Shame on those people who have been having a go at Anushka for the longest time and connecting every negative thing to her. Shame on those people who call themselves educated,” Kohli wrote.
“Shame for blaming and making fun of her when she has no control over what I do with my sport: If anything, she has only motivated and given me more positivity. This was long time coming. Shame on these people: who hide and take a dig.
“And I don’t need any respect for this post. Have some compassion and respect her. Think of how your sister or girlfriend or wife would feel if someone trolled them and very conveniently rubbished them in public,” he added.
Kohli’s online outburst won him instant likes and his tweet was re-tweeted 10,000 times in the first hour. The Instagram post, with a picture of the word “SHAME” in capital letters written across a wall, was liked over 50,000 times in the first half hour of Kohli posting it.
