'We were caught off guard': Anushka Sharma shares statement after Vamika's pictures go viral

Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli fans are furious after the broadcaster showed a glimpse of their daughter Vamika during the cricket match in South Africa, Cape Town. As the Indian cricket team played the 3rd ODI, the official broadcaster of the match panned the camera to the stands showing Anushka Sharma and Vamika, revealing the couple’s daughter’s face. As Virat and Anushka have been particularly determined to not reveal their daughter’s face in public and have issued requests, fans were furious and called it a breach of privacy. Sharma has taken to Instagram to share a statement for her fans and followers after Vamika’s pictures went viral. She wrote that she was caught off guard and did not know that the camera was on them. “Hi guys! We realise that our daughters images were captured at the stadium yesterday and widely shared thereafter. We want to inform everyone that we were caught off guard and didn’t know that the camera was on us. Our stance and request on the matter stays the same. We would really appreciate if Vamika’s images are not clicked/published for reasons we have explained earlier,” she said.

During Sunday’s game, the camera stayed on the two for a few seconds before returning to the ground. Fans were livid and took to social media to express their anger. “The broadcaster should have respected their privacy,” one tweet read, while another added, “It was so wrong of SuperSport to show Vamika’s face especially when Virat and Anushka had specifically asked not to do so.” Another person tweeted: “Well, honestly it was a terrible thing for them to do, by not respecting the privacy they needed!”

Many fans told others to report the tweets and tagged official accounts to delete it.

Virat and Anushka have never revealed Vamika’s face in any of their pictures since her birth a little over a year ago. They have requested the paparazzi to not click her photos, something that they have adhered to as well.

In a statement in December last year, Anushka and Virat made a request for Vamika’s privacy when a section of the media shared her photos. In a statement they said: “We seek privacy for our child and would like to do our best to give her a chance to live her life freely away from media and social media. As she is older, we cannot restrict her movement and hence your support is needed so kindly practice (refrain) in the matter. A special thank you to fan clubs and people of the internet for going out of your way to not post images. It was kind and highly mature of you."