Recently, an Australian journalist referred to Virat Kohli, a famous cricketer from India, as a “bully” on national television. He is in the news because of an incident at the airport in Melbourne on Thursday where he allegedly had a “shouting match” with a female journalist at the airport.
The cricketer, who was there to take part in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against Australia along with his wife, actress Anushka Sharma, and children, was welcomed by a different reality here. Much different than in India, here anyone can shoot or click pictures of any famous personality without restrictions. As soon as the journalist directed her lens towards Kohli’s family, the cricketer told her: “Please delete the videos but let me be featured alone.”
One would think that the discussion should have ended there. However, Tony Jones, a reporter for 9 Sports, launched a tirade against Kohli. He accused the Indian batter of bullying and flaunting his celebrity status at the airport.
“Nat was in there with a cameraman and a Channel 7 reporter was in there with his cameraman, and they were doing what we do on a daily basis essentially, and that is be at airports to actually get identities, whether they are politicians or sporting identities or whatever,” said Jones.
“Well he took umbrage; he being Virat Kohli, to the fact that the cameras were on him.
Well, duh! You’re a batting superstar, you’re a global superstar in the world of cricket, and he takes umbrage to the fact that the attention is on him.”
What really set my back against the wall when I saw the footage was that he turned around to the three blokes, the two cameramen and the Channel 7 reporter, and said: “You guys are OK, it’s her.”
“Really? Big tough guy Virat.
“And he stood over this girl, Nat Yoannidis, who is about five foot one, five foot two, and just completely berated her. You are nothing but a bully, Virat,” he added.
With that, a day later came the allegations in the Australian media about Ravindra Jadeja holding a Hindi-only press conference while denying English questions. He started taking questions from Indian journalists. After nine minutes of talks in the native language of the Indian, this press conference came to an end because the team bus needed to leave. Hence, the player couldn’t stay for long, according to India media manager.
Some Australian media outlets are, however, claiming that Jadeja refused to attend the Q&A in English. “The Australian media was bemused and confused when the star all-rounder refused to answer questions in English. It was obviously an annoying situation for the journalists who made the effort to turn up,” Channel 7 said in its report.
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