Virat Kohli asks fan to leave country for liking foreign cricketers more; Twitterati explode

Known for his aggressive on-field attitude, Indian skipper Virat Kohli has now caught the Twitterati's ire for asserting those who love foreign cricketers more than Indian ones should leave the country.

Kohli, who has been rested for the ongoing three-match T20 series against West Indies, was recording a promotional video for his newly launched app, Virat Kohli Official App while celebrating his 30th birthday on Monday.

While reacting to comments in the video, he came across a cricket fan’s note which said, "He is an overrated batsman. Nothing seems special in his batting. I enjoy watching English and Australian batsman more than these Indians."

Kohli who found the comment to be mean said that "I don't think you should live in India. Go and live somewhere else. Why are you living in our country and loving other countries?"

Is #Kohli asking his non-Indian fans to leave their country and come to India.. Or to sort their priorities? #WTF pic.twitter.com/tRAX4QbuZI

— H (@Hramblings) November 6, 2018

While adding that he didn’t mind any sort of dislike towards him, the Indian skipper felt that one should get his priorities sorted before posting such comments.

Many Twitter users didn’t accept the Delhi Dasher’s statement as they went on to attack him on his so-called hyper-nationalist comment.

Some Twitter users have also picked out his self-introductory video during the 2008 U-19 World Cup, where he was seen mentioning former South African batsman Herschelle Gibbs as his favourite cricketer.

Isn't Kohli a Federer fan?
He should leave India for liking Federer over Yuki or Saketh or Ram. https://t.co/GZPn34uA1R

— Mihir (@_buggywhip) November 7, 2018

#Kohli that's bhakt-logic.

'Don't like Modi, leave India' = 'Don't like Indian Cricketers, leave India' pic.twitter.com/xqhJKYX0Fu

— Taranjit Singh © (@singh_taranjit) November 7, 2018

 

A batsman par excellence with a plethora of records to his name, Kohli spent his birthday with wife Anushka Sharma in Haridwar. Recently, Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 10,000 ODI runs.

The Indian captain achieved the milestone in just 205 innings, bettering Sachin Tendulkar's previous record of 259 innings. He was in red-hot form and finished the five-match series as the top run-getter with 453 runs at an average of 151. 00.

You can take a man out of Delhi but you can never take Delhi out of the man.

This was long time coming, though. https://t.co/xArvZ9DMe3

— Saniyan Nadal Fan (@kothubarotta) November 7, 2018

He also slammed a hat-trick of centuries in the first three ODIs, another first for an Indian. Before the ODI series against the West Indies, he was very impressive on the England tour where he scored more than 500 runs even as his teammates struggled.

Kolhli was recently praised by West Indies legend Brian Lara and former South Africa captain Graeme Smith for his insatiable hunger for success.

(With PTI inputs)