Gavaskar, Laxman advise Virat Kohli to end row with journalist

Not too impressed with Virat Kohli’s abusive behaviour towards a journalist recently, former Indian cricketers Sunil Gavaskar and V V S Laxman on Thursday called on the star batsman to resolve the row amicably with the concerned scribe. Gavaskar and Laxman admitted that dealing with the media was never easy but they have never lost their cool in public even at the worst of times. [caption id=“attachment_2125693” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  India’s Virat Kohli. AFP[/caption] “I just try to see myself in front of the mirror and try to remove from my system all those which bother me and try to be cool under severe pressure. I wish I could be as cool as M S Dhoni or a Laxman. May be a Bjorn Borg (legendary tennis player), so cool under immense pressure,” Gavaskar told NDTV. “Media plays an important role. All the stakeholders – the players, administrators, media, fans and then the sponsors, they should work together to take cricket forward. Having said that the media should report as they see, the facts and not what they have heard, not speculative stories,” he added. Laxman said the best way to end the row would be for Kohli to apologise to the concerned journalist. “I think that is the mutual way to lay the matter to rest. Kohli can go up to the concerned journalist and say that ‘I mistook you as some other journalist’. Then the matter can be done and dusted,” he said. “I have never lost my cool except on one occasion and that incident is known to everybody. But that was within the four walls of the dressing room, never in public,” Laxman added. West Indian legend Brian Lara also felt that Kohli and the media should move ahead. “It (relationship with the media) is very tough, never easy. I had run-ins with the media. These things may happen but I think both the parties should move ahead for the good of the game and concentrate on the World Cup,” he said. “I am a West Indian and from the perspective of our team, I hope it distracts the Indian team. Kohli may be either perturbed or get more determined and I hope it (the row) affects him,” Lara said in a lighter vein. PTI