‘I’m so sorry, please don’t ban me’ – Virat Kohli after his notorious middle finger incident from his debut tour of Australia

In 2012, India’s star batsman Virat Kohli made his debut tour of Australia. It’s never easy to play cricket in Australia, especially with the supporters and media always willing to verbally abuse players. And Kohli was no different. The audience was harsh even though Kohli was still a young player and it was his first time visiting Australia; he later disclosed that they had been making disparaging remarks about his sister and mother.

When the audience became too loud, the former captain of India gave a middle finger flick. The newspaper featured it on the first page the following day, indicating that the media took notice of it quickly. When match official Ranjan Madugalle finally summoned Kohli in, the cricket player begged not to suspend him, saying it was just teasing.

Yes, the most vivid memory I have is of the moment I decided to just point a finger at the Australian fans in Sydney because I was tired of them. “I’m very awesome.” “What’s wrong?” I asked the match referee when he called me to his room the following day. “What happened at the boundary yesterday?” he asked.

“Nothing, it was just some light-hearted banter,” Virat Kohli had stated in a Wisden interview.

“He then threw the newspaper in front of me, and I said, ‘I’m so sorry, please don’t ban me,'” he continued. “There was this big image of me flicking on the front page.”

When Kohli last visited Australia, Adelaide saw India bowled out for 36 runs. India won the series 2-1 despite his departure from the team following the first Test of the series because of the birth of his first kid.

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The attention will be on the 35-year-old once more when he returns to Australia later in the year for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Though there have been some changes in his relationship with Australia, his desire to rule red-ball cricket has not changed.