Chennai: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has told Virat Kohli that there is a “need to maintain the dignity of the Indian team at all times and avoid such behaviour [of verbal abuse] in the future.”
The Board was referring to the major stand-off between the Indian media and Kohli after the cricketer was accused by a correspondent from a national daily of using abusive language at him after a practice session in Perth on Tuesday.
Under pressure, after the incident snowballed into a huge controversy, the BCCI said in a release on Thursday: “The BCCI has taken note of the incident that occurred at Perth a couple of days ago. The BCCI has been in touch with the Indian team management on this issue, and has advised that this kind of incident should not be repeated.
“The BCCI respects the role played by the media in covering and popularising the game of cricket, and acknowledges the support of the media in its mission to administer and promote the game of cricket in India.”
Anxious to put the emphasis back on the Indian campaign in the World Cup, it said: “The BCCI would like to request the concerned parties to move on, and focus on the Indian team’s campaign in the ongoing ICC CWC 2015.”
The team management had earlier denied use of abusive language by Kohli.