India took on Australia at the Kennington Oval and it looked like as if we were playing in India, thanks to the Indian fans who turned up for the day.
During the first innings of the match, while the Indian team captain Virat Kohli was batting, former Australian captain Steve Smith was asked to field at the boundary line and immediately, the Indian fans started mocking Steve Smith for the sandpaper incident which led to the ban of the cricketer.
This didn’t go well with the Indian captain as he asked the Indian fans to stop booing Smith and to clap for him. This was acknowledged by Steve Smith later on.
Talking about the incident, Virat Kohli said:
“I think what’s happened has happened long back. The guy is back, trying to play well for his side. Even in the IPL, I saw him, it’s not good to see a guy feel down. You don’t want to see someone feel the heat every time he plays. Just because there are so many Indian fans here, I don’t want them to set a bad example. He didn’t do anything to be booed in my opinion. I felt for him and told him sorry on behalf of the crowd. In my opinion that’s not acceptable,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
Coming to the match, the Indian batters led by Shikhar Dhawan’s ton went on to score 352. Chasing the same, Australia fell 36 runs short of the total.
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