ICC shares video of Virat Kohli and Steve Smith’s ‘wonderful moment’ from 2019 World Cup

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has shared a ‘wonderful moment’ between India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia batsman Steve Smith from the 2019 ICC World Cup on Twitter.

ICC shared a short video clip along with the caption, “#OnThisDay last year, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith shared this wonderful moment in #CWC19 #SpiritOfCricket.”

#OnThisDay last year, Virat Kohli and Steve Smith shared this wonderful moment in #CWC19 🙌#SpiritOfCricket pic.twitter.com/LImy8i7ncK

— ICC (@ICC) June 9, 2020

In the video, Kohli can be seen asking fans to clap for the Australian. The video ends with Smith patting Kohli’s back. The incident took place during a World Cup league stage encounter between India and Australia, in which the Men in Blue emerged victorious by 36 runs.

It said that Smith had received a lot of flak from Indian fans who jeered at him while he was fielding. The Indian skipper had stepped in to silence the crowd and ask them to cheer for Smith instead.

At the time of the incident, ICC had tweeted , “With India fans giving Steve Smith a tough time fielding in the deep, @imVkohli suggested they applaud the Australian instead. Absolute class.”

A report by DNA mentions that when Kohli was asked about it following the match, the Indian captain said, “What happened, happened long back. He’s back, trying to play well for his side. It is not good to see someone down like that. You don’t want to see a guy feeling heat every time he goes out to play.”

He went on to add that he felt for him and apologised to him on behalf of the crowd. Kohli said, “I have seen that happen in a few earlier games as well. In my opinion, that’s not acceptable."