World Cup 2019: Nick Compton blasts Virat Kohli for stopping fans from booing Steve Smith

Former England opener Nick Compton has launched yet another scathing attack towards India skipper Virat Kohli. While the whole world is all praise for Kohli for his gesture towards Steve Smith, Compton slammed the India skipper for the same. Compton was not at all impressed with the way Kohli bossed the crowd at the Oval.

During the high-voltage clash between India and Australia on Sunday, Smith was facing the heat from the Indian fans because of the ball-tampering scandal. The fans were booing and jeering him when he was fielding near the boundary ropes. But before things could become nastier, Kohli intervened and asked the fans to not cheer for the despondent Australian instead of booing him.

Smith was quick to acknowledge the gesture as he shook hands with the India star and patted on his back. The cricketing world also followed suit soon and lavished praise on Kohli for the beautiful sportsmanship. From fans, former cricketers to present ones, almost everyone associated with the game made sure to give Kohli. However, Compton, for some reasons known only to him, decided to react otherwise.

Compton took to Twitter to express his reservation over Kohli’s gesture, saying that the India batsman did not have any right to tell the fans what to do. Posting a video on the social media platform where was seen talking about the game, Compton wrote:

“I don’t think Virat Kohli had any right to tell fans to stop booing at Warner and Smith but rather clap them.. found it rather condescending if truth be told!”

I don’t think Virat Kohli had any right to tell fans to stop booing at Warner and Smith but rather clap them.. found it rather condescending if truth be told! @cricketworldcup #CricketWorldCup2019 pic.twitter.com/yUnxdki9Wk

— Nick Compton (@thecompdog) June 10, 2019

Kohli’s take on the matter

Following the 36-run win over Australia, Kohli had opened up about the incident and why he asked the fans to stop booing Smith. The batting superstar said he didn’t want the Indian fans to set a bad example by booing Smith.

“There are so many Indian fans here, I just didn’t want them to set a bad example, to be honest. He didn’t do anything to be booed, in my opinion. He’s just playing cricket. I mean he’s just standing there and I felt bad because if I was in a position where something had happened with me and I’d apologised and accepted it and I came back and still I get booed, I wouldn’t like it either.

“So I just felt for him and told him ‘sorry for… on behalf of the crowd’. We’ve seen that happen in a few earlier games as well. In my opinion that’s not acceptable,” he added.