Virat Kohli didn't apologise to me directly, says the abused Hindustan Times journalist

Virat Kohli finds himself in the spotlight again, this time for the wrong reasons

Jasvinder Sidhu, the Hindustan Times journalist, who was allegedly abused by Indian vice-captain Virat Kohli yesterday, has said that the 26-year-old didn’t apologise to him directly despite knowing he had committed a mistake.

Mistaking Sidhu for a reporter who had written a newspaper story about him and his actress girlfriend Anushka Sharma, Kohli hurled a series of abuses at him after a training session at Perth, where the team is scheduled to play its fourth World Cup Pool B match against West Indies on Friday.

No direct apology from Kohli

When Kohli opened up to some of his teammates, who had been left equally clueless during the incident, about why he chose to behave in the manner he did, he was informed of the error he had committed. Later, he apologised through one of Sidhu’s friends who told Sidhu, “Sidhu, he has apologised to you for his behaviour. He mistook you for a reporter from another English daily... It was mistaken identity.”

To which, Sidhu replied: “However, I told Sumit that such behaviour doesn’t behove of an international player, even if it was not directed at me. I told Sumit, ‘Go and tell him that he is an international player and he should learn how to behave. How can he abuse and intimidate someone?’”

Sidhu recounts the incident

Sidhu, in his column for Hindustan Times, writes, “I would like to reiterate that Kohli did not apologise to me directly.” Describing the incident, he said: “When I turned my attention toward Virat, I realised he was getting worked up and raising his voice at me. Despite the distance, I could hear invectives like g***u and be***hod pretty clearly. Unable to believe that I was the one being singled out, I looked askance in either direction. Huffing and puffing, Kohli said, ‘Yes, you ba****d. You are here also.’”

“It came as a shocker to me. I told the guys beside me that I was clueless about his anger being directed at me. I didn’t understand why he was trying to intimidate me without any possible provocation. Before I could gather myself, he walked towards the dressing room with his kit in hand, murmuring continuously, ‘m** ki c***’. He was staring at me all this while without batting an eyelid.”