Kohli takes a leaf from conservative Brit politician Norman Tebbit.
In April 1990, British conservative politician Norman Tebbit had coined a controversial term about the perceived lack of loyalty of South Asian and Caribbean immigrants living in the UK.
Tebbit had suggested that those migrants who supported their native countries rather than England in a cricket match weren’t sufficiently integrated.
He had said: “A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?”
Now 28 years later, Virat Kohli appears to have come up with his own version of the Tebbit test when he harangued a fan who said he preferred watching English and Australian batsmen.
Kohli suggested, perhaps in jest, that those who didn’t like watching Indian batsmen ought to consider migrating.
A fan had said: “An over-rated batsman and personally I see nothing special in his batting. I enjoy watching English and Australian batsmen more than these Indians.”
This led Kohli to reply: “Okay, I don’t think you should live in India then… you should go and live somewhere else no. Why are you living in our country and loving other countries? I don’t mind you not liking me, but I don’t think you should live in our country and like other things. Get your priorities right.”
Of course, Kohli is not the first one to get embroiled in a nationalistic cricket debate, and even the Taliban got involved in 2013 when it lashed out at Pak media for praising Sachin Tendulkar.
Taliban spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid had said in a video-recording – flanked by masked men with AK-47 rifles – that Pak media ought to focus on Misbah instead of Sachin Tendulkar. He had said: “An Indian sportsman whose name is Tendulkar was praised by the Pakistani media and in fact a lot of Pakistanis [also] complimented him.”
He added: “At the same time [the media] showed disapproval of Misbah-ul-Haq. [But...] Even though Tendulkar is a great sportsman you should not praise him, as it is against the national interests of the country. Instead you should praise Misbah despite the fact that he is a pathetic player, because he is ultimately a Pakistani."
Recently, Kohli became the fastest batsman to score 10,000 ODI runs. The Indian captain achieved the milestone in just 205 innings, bettering Sachin Tendulkar's previous record of 259 innings.
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