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Ravi Shastri slams Australian media Photograph: (X)
Former Indian coach Ravi Shastri has slammed Australian media for their disrespect towards Virat Kohli. There was massive uproar after Kohli had shoulder-barged Sam Konstas during the first session of the opening day during the MCG Test match. The ICC eventually fined Kohli 20% of his match fees.
Australian media put out disrespectful news pieces towards India’s ace batter. This didn’t sit down well with Shastri said on Star Sports “It's a little bit of desperation. You are three Test matches into the series; the scoreline is 1-1. The Border-Gavaskar trophy is still not yours. You want to win in Melbourne. I've been to Australia many times, the whole country comes behind the team. Not just the crowd, the media, everyone.”
"𝘒𝘰𝘩𝘭𝘪 𝘒𝘰𝘩𝘭𝘪 𝘒𝘰𝘩𝘭𝘪" 🗣
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) December 27, 2024
The King & his k̶i̶n̶g̶d̶o̶m̶ fandom 😍#AUSvINDOnStar 👉 4th Test, Day 2 | LIVE NOW! | #ToughestRivalry#BorderGavaskarTrophypic.twitter.com/w74owfCqjd
The Australian crowd was heard booing Kohli during day two of the 4th Test match. The 36-year-old also came to bat amidst a chorus of boos. Many former Australian players have been targeting Kohli post his altercation with Konstas on Thursday. Even the young Aussie batter spoke to the media and said that he had put the incident behind.
Ravi Shastri defends Virat Kohli and slams Australian media
During the course of his chat on Star Sports, Ravi Shastri said, “I'm not surprised. That's why I said it's a sense of desperation. If Australia had already been 3-0 or 2-0 up, the headlines might have been different.”
The former Indian coach also said, “When you want to win badly... it is not so often a country comes to Australia and wins a series for 7-8 years. I know where it's coming from, it has been there for a period of time, someone had to be the target, and they got the opportunity with the physical incident yesterday.”
According to Ravi Shastri, Australian media used the incident to put further pressure on India during the MCG Test. Just before the start of the game, Virat Kohli’s interaction with a journalist was blown out of proportion. “When the physical contact happened, they were like, ‘This is our chance to get the fangs out, get the paintbrush out’ and start doing all sorts of things,” said Ravi Shastri on Star Sports.