The DRS controversy in the India-Australia Test series is not going to be shunned anytime soon. Rather, the controversy has hit a new low with an Australian newspaper claiming that Indian camp acted violently in the dressing room during the second Test in Bengaluru.
A report in The Daily Telegraph said that Virat Kohli smashed a Gatorade bottle which accidentally hit the leg of an Australian staff.
The report read, “Kohli might be the aggressor in the brazen campaign India is running against Australia’s integrity — even striking an Australian official with an orange Gatorade bottle — but coach Kumble, one of the main instigators of the Monkeygate fiasco, would appear to have reclaimed his role as the puppeteer behind the scenes.”
The newspaper even pointed fingers at Anil Kumble, whose actions, as per the newspaper, were in question. He said, “It’s understood Kumble has also made his fury known about the actions of the match referee Chris Broad during the Test, complaints which are now to be passed onto the ICC by the BCCI.”
“It can be revealed he (Kohli) unleashed an astonishing outburst in the dressing rooms following his dismissal, smashing a Gatorade bottle off a table, where it then rebounded off a television and struck an Australian team official on the leg. Kohli was also swearing in the direction of the Australian box as he left the field and using a throat-slitting gesture to send-off Peter Handscomb late in the Test,” the report added.
The dig at Kohli did not stop there as the newspaper wrote that Kohli’s action was similar to that of Arjuna Ranatunga, calling the two captain as villainious. The report says, “The spirit of the game notion has been pronounced dead in the game many times before, but Kohli — a law unto himself — would appear to have killed it off once again with his behaviour some of the worst by an international captain since villainous Sri Lankan leader Arjuna Ranatunga.”
In 1995, Australian umpire Darrel Hair had an issue with Muttiah Muralitharan bowling action in the Boxing day Test and Hair had stopped him from bowling in the match. The then Sri Lankan captain Arjuna Ranatunga took a stern stance for his bowler, which did not go down with many fans and Australian media has written many negative things about Ranatunga.