10 April,2015 02:43 PM IST | | PTI
Deeply hurt with the attack on his personal life after India's World Cup semifinal loss to Australia, Test skipper Virat Kohli lashes out at critics for blaming his girlfriend Anushka Sharma for his failure
Kolkata: India's Test captain Virat Kohli today lashed out at critics, who blamed his girlfriend Anushkha Sharma for the team's exit from ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, stating that they "should be ashamed of themselves" as "no one has won more matches" than him in the last five years.
Kohli, opened up for the first time since the World Cup exit, after which his filmstar girlfriend took a lot of unncessary flak in various social networking sites.
Angry cricket fans with the posters of Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, protest, after the team lost to Australia in the World Cup semi final clash, in Ahmedabad. Pic/PTI
"At a human level, I would say I was hurt and the people who said those things and the way they said should be ashamed of themselves," Kohli said at a promotional event of his IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore, in reference to the abuse that the Bollywood star had to face after Kohli's poor show in the semi-final.
Kohli was unusually open during his interaction with media today as he didn't forget to mention his performance during the past five years.
"Personally, I was very disappointed. In last five years, the number of matches I've helped India win and the consistently I've played is more than anyone else in the team. I don't think there's anybody else in the team who has done better than me," Kohli answered with same swagger that one finds in his batting.
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma. Pic/Atul Kamble
Kohli feels that now he knows "whom to trust" after the public outrage over his poor show against Australia in the semi-final of the World Cup.
"To see those reactions after just one match was very disappointing for me personally. It makes you lose faith in a lot of people. It's a good thing in a way. You get to know who's with you and who's not. It was not in my control. But the reactions were very disappointing," Kohli said at the function.
Taking a dig at the media, Kohli sarcastically remarked that there are different parameters for different players when it comes to dip in form. "It's funny that I never know when my rough patch comes but you make the judgement. In my case, if I don't do well in two games, it's dip in form but if some other player performs two games out of 10, they come back in form," Kohli was at his sarcastic best.
"So I don't get the balance and I really don't pay attention to it. It's about how you hit the ball on that particular day," Kohli was again in his usual dimissive self.