Deeply hurt with the attack on his personal life after India's cricket World Cup semifinal loss to Australia, Test skipper Virat Kohli today let his emotions speak and lashed out at his critics for blaming his girlfriend Anushka Sharma for his failure.
An emotional-looking Kohli issued a statement after the conclusion of IPL match-eve press conference and said everyone should take note of it.
Kohli has already spoken about the issue at a promotional event in the morning, saying those who blamed Anushka "should be ashamed of themselves", but the Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper apparently felt the need to make an official statement a day before they begin their IPL campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders tomorrow.
"I just want to speak something on this issue and want everyone to take note of it and the stuff that happened after the semifinal after the World Cup," Kohli said.
Kohli was bold enough to mention the name of his actor girlfriend Anushka, a Bollywood heartthrob who was at the centre of controversy after his one-run dismissal in the semifinals.
"The way people reacted towards my personal life and Anushka in particular was really disrespectful. I wanted to put out there in public. At a human level, I was very hurt and I wanted to express that for quite a long time but I wanted to take a break for a few days," he said.
"For people to react that way and to see whatever they did, blaming her for our loss and my failure was absolutely hurtful for me. It's shameful to see that people can react like that to one loss," he added.
Kohli said at the end of the day, they were also human beings ans should be respected as such.
"It's very important for people to know that we are human beings at the end of the day. We don't aim to become successful... That's not our aim in life. We are doing what we are doing.
"I just wanted to express that and get it out there because it's very important for people to know how we feel about these things and that people should be respected more than they're in these sort of times in our country," he reiterated.
