One of the finest cricketers the game has ever witnessed, Virat Kohli is into his thirties and here begins a new phase in his life. Despite achieving so much in his tenure over the last few years, one cannot rule out a fact that his best years are still ahead. The Indian skipper would be desperate to carry his purple patch into the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/virat-kohli-puts-forth-an-action-plan-for-indias-pacers-ahead-of-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Cup</strong></a> next year and win the coveted trophy.

In every calendar year of Virat&#8217;s international career thus far, there have been some outstanding moments to savor. But another thing we see quite often is the Indian captain getting hammered on social media for the good or bad reasons.

It&#8217;s not right to judge a person based on a few instances and at the same time, we cannot forget the other instances where the same person personified humanity. The Indian skipper had a fair share of controversies in the last few years and here are five incidents where Kohli&#8217;s actions or words sparked severe outrage on social media.

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-156972" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Anil-Kumble-and-Virat-Kohli.jpg" alt="Anil Kumble Indian cricket" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-156972" class="wp-caption-text">Anil Kumble talks with India&#8217;s captain Virat Kohli. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Well, this saga needs no introduction to Indian cricket fans. In the fag end of 2016, <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ms-dhoni-wishes-virat-kohli-by-referring-to-his-childhood-picture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>MS Dhoni</strong></a> announced that he&#8217;s stepping down from the captaincy post in ODIs and T20Is which made Kohli the captain across all formats. The men in blue were doing a terrific job under Anil Kumble, but the Indian coach&#8217;s apparent headmaster attitude didn&#8217;t go down well with Kohli.

The 30-year-old kept lodging complaints to the hierarchy over his reservations with Kumble. Eventually, Kumble stepped down after the 2017 Champions Trophy and this went down very badly with the fans and former cricketers. Not many could digest the fact that under Kohli&#8217;s leadership, one of Indian greatest icons got disrespected and former Indian captain<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/indian-batters-have-forgotten-to-face-short-balls-sunil-gavaskar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> Sunil Gavaskar</strong></a>&#8216;s reaction pretty much summed up the whole scenario.

&#8220;So you want softies. You want somebody to just tell you, &#8216;ok boys, don&#8217;t practice today because you guys are not feeling well, ok take a holiday, go shopping&#8217;. If somebody is a hard taskmaster and he has got you results like Anil Kumble has got over the last one year. If any of the players are complaining, I feel those players are the ones who should be left out of the team,&#8221; Gavaskar said as quoted by NDTV.<br>

2. Asks a fan to leave India, gets hammered on social media

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-283220" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-India.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-283220" class="wp-caption-text">Virat Kohli India. (Photo by Subir Halder/India Today Group/Getty Images)</figcaption>

The most recent of all the incidents, Virat Kohli requested a fan to leave India as he felt English and Australian batsmen were better than the Indian batsmen. This went down very badly with the fans and became a major meme content in the last couple of days. Interestingly, Kohli himself said during the 2008 Under 19 World Cup that South African stalwart Herschelle Gibbs was his favorite batsman.

Although <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/i-am-all-for-freedom-of-choice-virat-kohli-clarifies-his-stance-on-leave-india-remark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kohli clarified what he meant with his comment</strong></a>, the justification wasn&#8217;t strong enough to convince the fans. &#8220;I guess trolling isn’t for me guys, I’ll stick to getting trolled! I spoke about how ‘these Indians’ was mentioned in the comment and that’s all. I’m all for freedom of choice. Keep it light guys and enjoy the festive season. Love and peace to all,” said Kohli in a tweet on Thursday.<br>

3. Prioritizing Rohit over Rahane in South Africa

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-271660" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-3.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-271660" class="wp-caption-text">India skipper Virat Kohli. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)</figcaption>

Its easy for the fans and experts to deem a captain&#8217;s choice as wrong in hindsight, but on numerous occasions, Virat Kohli took some pretty wrong choices, which led to him getting bashed. In <strong>South Africa</strong>, India needed just over 200 runs to win the first Test and Kohli&#8217;s men were in the driver&#8217;s seat.

But a choice made by the 30-year-old to go with Rohit Sharma in the playing XI over Ajinkya Rahane proved to be fatal. These were uncharted waters for Rohit whilst Rahane, who is technically astute and has the experience of playing in South Africa, was not preferred as the management decided to go with current form over long-term credibility.

This decision cost India big time as they missed the exact resistance which Rahane provides in the middle order. There was a severe outrage from the fans and as one would expect, he backed himself for taking that decision and had no regrets.<br>

4. Promoting his brand on the day Atal Bihari Vajpayee died

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-266070" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-Training.jpg" alt="England &amp; India Net Sessions" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-266070" class="wp-caption-text">India captain Virat Kohli. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)</figcaption>

August 15th and 16th this year were two sad days for the country as India lost two of its most iconic personalities. Former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar passed away on 15th whilst the legendary politician Atal Bihari Vajpayee took his final breath on 16th. The nation was mourning the loss of its stalwarts and Kohli too sent his condolences via social media.

But on 16th, a new &#8220;Wrogn&#8221; promotional video starring the Indian captain was launched, which received a brutal response from the fans. Most of them were criticizing him for<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/fans-lash-virat-kohli-promoting-brands-atal-bihari-vajpayees-demise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> promoting his brand on a day</strong> <strong>where the whole nation is mourning</strong></a>. Once again, this incident put him on the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, leading to him getting bashed yet again.

<div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BmilitFgonr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div><div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"><div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div><div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div><div style="display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;"><svg width="50px" height="50px" viewBox="0 0 60 60" version="1.1" xmlns="https://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g stroke="none" stroke-width="1" fill="none" fill-rule="evenodd"><g transform="translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)" fill="#000000"><g><path d="M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631"></path></g></g></g></svg></div><div style="padding-top: 8px;"><div style=" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div><div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div><div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"><div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div><div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"><div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div><div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div><div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div><p> </p><p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> </p></a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BmilitFgonr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">When you want it all Wrogn, there is only one place to get them. Visit wrogn.in and #StayWrogn #ShopNow</a><p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/virat.kohli/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Virat Kohli</a> (@virat.kohli) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2018-08-16T12:51:53+00:00">Aug 16, 2018 at 5:51am PDT</time></p></div>

<img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-16889" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-vs-Gautam-Gambhir.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir IPL" width="584" height="408" sizes="(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16889" class="wp-caption-text">A heated exchange of words between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli took place in IPL 6. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption>

Virat Kohli and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/weird-tweet-from-azharuddins-official-account-hits-back-at-gautam-gambhir-gets-deleted-later/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Gautam Gambhir</strong></a> were leading their respective sides in the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in 2013. When Kohli got out, a vehement celebration from the KKR skipper led to the RCB captain losing his cool. Both of them were involved in a heated altercation on the field.

Although the incident didn&#8217;t go beyond the playing area, a lot of fans didn&#8217;t appreciate Kohli &#8220;disrespecting&#8221; a respectable senior cricketer like Gambhir. The duo had shared some iconic partnerships in Kohli&#8217;s initial years as an Indian cricketer and although the reason behind the fight never came out, the 30-year-old was at the receiving end of some harsh criticism.

<strong>Get the latest </strong><strong>Cricket News</strong><strong> and updates</strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/tag/slveng"><strong>,</strong></a><strong> </strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-match-predictions/"><strong>Match Predictions</strong></a><strong>, </strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/fantasy-cricket-tips/"><strong>Fantasy Cricket Tips </strong></a><strong>and lots more on </strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/"><strong>CricTracker.com</strong></a><strong>.</strong>

<p>One of the finest cricketers the game has ever witnessed, Virat Kohli is into his thirties and here begins a new phase in his life. Despite achieving so much in his tenure over the last few years, one cannot rule out a fact that his best years are still ahead. The Indian skipper would be desperate to carry his purple patch into the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/virat-kohli-puts-forth-an-action-plan-for-indias-pacers-ahead-of-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Cup</strong></a> next year and win the coveted trophy.</p>
<p>In every calendar year of Virat’s international career thus far, there have been some outstanding moments to savor. But another thing we see quite often is the Indian captain getting hammered on social media for the good or bad reasons.</p>
<p>It’s not right to judge a person based on a few instances and at the same time, we cannot forget the other instances where the same person personified humanity. The Indian skipper had a fair share of controversies in the last few years and here are five incidents where Kohli’s actions or words sparked severe outrage on social media.</p>
<h3>1. Fallout with Anil Kumble</h3>
<figure id="attachment_156972" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-156972" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-156972" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Anil-Kumble-and-Virat-Kohli.jpg" alt="Anil Kumble Indian cricket" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-156972" class="wp-caption-text">Anil Kumble talks with India’s captain Virat Kohli. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Well, this saga needs no introduction to Indian cricket fans. In the fag end of 2016, <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ms-dhoni-wishes-virat-kohli-by-referring-to-his-childhood-picture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>MS Dhoni</strong></a> announced that he’s stepping down from the captaincy post in ODIs and T20Is which made Kohli the captain across all formats. The men in blue were doing a terrific job under Anil Kumble, but the Indian coach’s apparent headmaster attitude didn’t go down well with Kohli.</p>
<p>The 30-year-old kept lodging complaints to the hierarchy over his reservations with Kumble. Eventually, Kumble stepped down after the 2017 Champions Trophy and this went down very badly with the fans and former cricketers. Not many could digest the fact that under Kohli’s leadership, one of Indian greatest icons got disrespected and former Indian captain<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/indian-batters-have-forgotten-to-face-short-balls-sunil-gavaskar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> Sunil Gavaskar</strong></a>‘s reaction pretty much summed up the whole scenario.</p>
<p>“So you want softies. You want somebody to just tell you, ‘ok boys, don’t practice today because you guys are not feeling well, ok take a holiday, go shopping’. If somebody is a hard taskmaster and he has got you results like Anil Kumble has got over the last one year. If any of the players are complaining, I feel those players are the ones who should be left out of the team,” Gavaskar said as quoted by NDTV.<br>
</p>
<h3>2. Asks a fan to leave India, gets hammered on social media</h3>
<figure id="attachment_283220" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-283220" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-283220" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-India.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-283220" class="wp-caption-text">Virat Kohli India. (Photo by Subir Halder/India Today Group/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>The most recent of all the incidents, Virat Kohli requested a fan to leave India as he felt English and Australian batsmen were better than the Indian batsmen. This went down very badly with the fans and became a major meme content in the last couple of days. Interestingly, Kohli himself said during the 2008 Under 19 World Cup that South African stalwart Herschelle Gibbs was his favorite batsman.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/i-am-all-for-freedom-of-choice-virat-kohli-clarifies-his-stance-on-leave-india-remark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kohli clarified what he meant with his comment</strong></a>, the justification wasn’t strong enough to convince the fans. “I guess trolling isn’t for me guys, I’ll stick to getting trolled! I spoke about how ‘these Indians’ was mentioned in the comment and that’s all. I’m all for freedom of choice. Keep it light guys and enjoy the festive season. Love and peace to all,” said Kohli in a tweet on Thursday.<br>
</p>
<h3>3. Prioritizing Rohit over Rahane in South Africa</h3>
<figure id="attachment_271660" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-271660" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-271660" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-3.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-271660" class="wp-caption-text">India skipper Virat Kohli. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Its easy for the fans and experts to deem a captain’s choice as wrong in hindsight, but on numerous occasions, Virat Kohli took some pretty wrong choices, which led to him getting bashed. In <strong>South Africa</strong>, India needed just over 200 runs to win the first Test and Kohli’s men were in the driver’s seat.</p>
<p>But a choice made by the 30-year-old to go with Rohit Sharma in the playing XI over Ajinkya Rahane proved to be fatal. These were uncharted waters for Rohit whilst Rahane, who is technically astute and has the experience of playing in South Africa, was not preferred as the management decided to go with current form over long-term credibility.</p>
<p>This decision cost India big time as they missed the exact resistance which Rahane provides in the middle order. There was a severe outrage from the fans and as one would expect, he backed himself for taking that decision and had no regrets.<br>
</p>
<h3>4. Promoting his brand on the day Atal Bihari Vajpayee died</h3>
<figure id="attachment_266070" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-266070" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-266070" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-Training.jpg" alt="England &amp; India Net Sessions" width="640" height="400" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-266070" class="wp-caption-text">India captain Virat Kohli. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>August 15th and 16th this year were two sad days for the country as India lost two of its most iconic personalities. Former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar passed away on 15th whilst the legendary politician Atal Bihari Vajpayee took his final breath on 16th. The nation was mourning the loss of its stalwarts and Kohli too sent his condolences via social media.</p>
<p>But on 16th, a new “Wrogn” promotional video starring the Indian captain was launched, which received a brutal response from the fans. Most of them were criticizing him for<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/fans-lash-virat-kohli-promoting-brands-atal-bihari-vajpayees-demise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> promoting his brand on a day</strong> <strong>where the whole nation is mourning</strong></a>. Once again, this incident put him on the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, leading to him getting bashed yet again.</p>
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<p></p>
<p></p>
<h3>5. Onfield brawl with Gautam Gambhir</h3>
<figure id="attachment_16889" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16889" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"><amp-img class="size-full wp-image-16889" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-vs-Gautam-Gambhir.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir IPL" width="584" height="408" layout="responsive" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0;"></amp-img><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16889" class="wp-caption-text">A heated exchange of words between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli took place in IPL 6. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Virat Kohli and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/weird-tweet-from-azharuddins-official-account-hits-back-at-gautam-gambhir-gets-deleted-later/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Gautam Gambhir</strong></a> were leading their respective sides in the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in 2013. When Kohli got out, a vehement celebration from the KKR skipper led to the RCB captain losing his cool. Both of them were involved in a heated altercation on the field.</p>
<p>Although the incident didn’t go beyond the playing area, a lot of fans didn’t appreciate Kohli “disrespecting” a respectable senior cricketer like Gambhir. The duo had shared some iconic partnerships in Kohli’s initial years as an Indian cricketer and although the reason behind the fight never came out, the 30-year-old was at the receiving end of some harsh criticism.</p>
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<p>One of the finest cricketers the game has ever witnessed, Virat Kohli is into his thirties and here begins a new phase in his life. Despite achieving so much in his tenure over the last few years, one cannot rule out a fact that his best years are still ahead. The Indian skipper would be desperate to carry his purple patch into the <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/virat-kohli-puts-forth-an-action-plan-for-indias-pacers-ahead-of-world-cup/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>World Cup</strong></a> next year and win the coveted trophy.</p>
<p>In every calendar year of Virat&#8217;s international career thus far, there have been some outstanding moments to savor. But another thing we see quite often is the Indian captain getting hammered on social media for the good or bad reasons.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s not right to judge a person based on a few instances and at the same time, we cannot forget the other instances where the same person personified humanity. The Indian skipper had a fair share of controversies in the last few years and here are five incidents where Kohli&#8217;s actions or words sparked severe outrage on social media.</p>
<h3>1. Fallout with Anil Kumble</h3>
<figure id="attachment_156972" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-156972" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-156972" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Anil-Kumble-and-Virat-Kohli.jpg" alt="Anil Kumble Indian cricket" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-156972" class="wp-caption-text">Anil Kumble talks with India&#8217;s captain Virat Kohli. (Photo by IAN KINGTON/AFP/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Well, this saga needs no introduction to Indian cricket fans. In the fag end of 2016, <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/ms-dhoni-wishes-virat-kohli-by-referring-to-his-childhood-picture/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>MS Dhoni</strong></a> announced that he&#8217;s stepping down from the captaincy post in ODIs and T20Is which made Kohli the captain across all formats. The men in blue were doing a terrific job under Anil Kumble, but the Indian coach&#8217;s apparent headmaster attitude didn&#8217;t go down well with Kohli.</p>
<p>The 30-year-old kept lodging complaints to the hierarchy over his reservations with Kumble. Eventually, Kumble stepped down after the 2017 Champions Trophy and this went down very badly with the fans and former cricketers. Not many could digest the fact that under Kohli&#8217;s leadership, one of Indian greatest icons got disrespected and former Indian captain<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/indian-batters-have-forgotten-to-face-short-balls-sunil-gavaskar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> Sunil Gavaskar</strong></a>&#8216;s reaction pretty much summed up the whole scenario.</p>
<p>&#8220;So you want softies. You want somebody to just tell you, &#8216;ok boys, don&#8217;t practice today because you guys are not feeling well, ok take a holiday, go shopping&#8217;. If somebody is a hard taskmaster and he has got you results like Anil Kumble has got over the last one year. If any of the players are complaining, I feel those players are the ones who should be left out of the team,&#8221; Gavaskar said as quoted by NDTV.<br>
</p>
<h3>2. Asks a fan to leave India, gets hammered on social media</h3>
<figure id="attachment_283220" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-283220" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-283220" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-India.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-283220" class="wp-caption-text">Virat Kohli India. (Photo by Subir Halder/India Today Group/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>The most recent of all the incidents, Virat Kohli requested a fan to leave India as he felt English and Australian batsmen were better than the Indian batsmen. This went down very badly with the fans and became a major meme content in the last couple of days. Interestingly, Kohli himself said during the 2008 Under 19 World Cup that South African stalwart Herschelle Gibbs was his favorite batsman.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/i-am-all-for-freedom-of-choice-virat-kohli-clarifies-his-stance-on-leave-india-remark/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Kohli clarified what he meant with his comment</strong></a>, the justification wasn&#8217;t strong enough to convince the fans. &#8220;I guess trolling isn’t for me guys, I’ll stick to getting trolled! I spoke about how ‘these Indians’ was mentioned in the comment and that’s all. I’m all for freedom of choice. Keep it light guys and enjoy the festive season. Love and peace to all,” said Kohli in a tweet on Thursday.<br>
</p>
<h3>3. Prioritizing Rohit over Rahane in South Africa</h3>
<figure id="attachment_271660" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-271660" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-271660" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-3.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-271660" class="wp-caption-text">India skipper Virat Kohli. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Its easy for the fans and experts to deem a captain&#8217;s choice as wrong in hindsight, but on numerous occasions, Virat Kohli took some pretty wrong choices, which led to him getting bashed. In <strong>South Africa</strong>, India needed just over 200 runs to win the first Test and Kohli&#8217;s men were in the driver&#8217;s seat.</p>
<p>But a choice made by the 30-year-old to go with Rohit Sharma in the playing XI over Ajinkya Rahane proved to be fatal. These were uncharted waters for Rohit whilst Rahane, who is technically astute and has the experience of playing in South Africa, was not preferred as the management decided to go with current form over long-term credibility.</p>
<p>This decision cost India big time as they missed the exact resistance which Rahane provides in the middle order. There was a severe outrage from the fans and as one would expect, he backed himself for taking that decision and had no regrets.<br>
</p>
<h3>4. Promoting his brand on the day Atal Bihari Vajpayee died</h3>
<figure id="attachment_266070" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-266070" style="width: 640px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-266070" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-Training.jpg" alt="England &amp; India Net Sessions" width="640" height="400" sizes="(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-266070" class="wp-caption-text">India captain Virat Kohli. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>
<p>August 15th and 16th this year were two sad days for the country as India lost two of its most iconic personalities. Former Indian captain Ajit Wadekar passed away on 15th whilst the legendary politician Atal Bihari Vajpayee took his final breath on 16th. The nation was mourning the loss of its stalwarts and Kohli too sent his condolences via social media.</p>
<p>But on 16th, a new &#8220;Wrogn&#8221; promotional video starring the Indian captain was launched, which received a brutal response from the fans. Most of them were criticizing him for<a href="https://www.crictracker.com/fans-lash-virat-kohli-promoting-brands-atal-bihari-vajpayees-demise/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong> promoting his brand on a day</strong> <strong>where the whole nation is mourning</strong></a>. Once again, this incident put him on the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, leading to him getting bashed yet again.</p>
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<p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> </p></a><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BmilitFgonr/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">When you want it all Wrogn, there is only one place to get them. Visit wrogn.in and #StayWrogn #ShopNow</a>
<p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/virat.kohli/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_medium=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Virat Kohli</a> (@virat.kohli) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2018-08-16T12:51:53+00:00">Aug 16, 2018 at 5:51am PDT</time></p>
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<h3>5. Onfield brawl with Gautam Gambhir</h3>
<figure id="attachment_16889" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-16889" style="width: 584px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-16889" src="https://crictracker-admin-panel-08032022.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/media/attachments/Virat-Kohli-vs-Gautam-Gambhir.jpg" alt="Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir IPL" width="584" height="408" sizes="(max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px"><figcaption id="caption-attachment-16889" class="wp-caption-text">A heated exchange of words between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli took place in IPL 6. (Photo Source: Twitter)</figcaption></figure>
<p>Virat Kohli and <a href="https://www.crictracker.com/weird-tweet-from-azharuddins-official-account-hits-back-at-gautam-gambhir-gets-deleted-later/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Gautam Gambhir</strong></a> were leading their respective sides in the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders in 2013. When Kohli got out, a vehement celebration from the KKR skipper led to the RCB captain losing his cool. Both of them were involved in a heated altercation on the field.</p>
<p>Although the incident didn&#8217;t go beyond the playing area, a lot of fans didn&#8217;t appreciate Kohli &#8220;disrespecting&#8221; a respectable senior cricketer like Gambhir. The duo had shared some iconic partnerships in Kohli&#8217;s initial years as an Indian cricketer and although the reason behind the fight never came out, the 30-year-old was at the receiving end of some harsh criticism.</p>
<h4><strong>Get the latest </strong><strong>Cricket News</strong><strong> and updates</strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/tag/slveng"><strong>,</strong></a><strong> </strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/cricket-match-predictions/"><strong>Match Predictions</strong></a><strong>, </strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/fantasy-cricket-tips/"><strong>Fantasy Cricket Tips </strong></a><strong>and lots more on </strong><a href="https://www.crictracker.com/"><strong>CricTracker.com</strong></a><strong>.</strong></h4>

The Indian skipper had a fair share of controversies in the last few years.

Five instances where fans lashed out at Virat Kohli

One of the finest cricketers the game has ever witnessed, Virat Kohli is into his thirties and here begins a new phase in his life.