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The Men in Blue are touring Australia for the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, eyeing to complete hat-trick of wins down under. However, after three Tests, the series is currently levelled 1-1 with the two teams now set to lock horns in the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from December 26 onwards.
Moreover, the series has been marred with several controversy as usual, seeing heated moments take place both, on and off-the-field. In one such instance, star Indian batter Virat Kohli has also found himself after he was seen engaging in an argument with a female journalist last week on landing at Melbourne Airport.
Virat Kohli labelled “bully” by Australian journalist over argument with female reporter
After Virat Kohli was seen lashing out at Nat Yoannidis, a local journalist upon landing with his family at the Melbourne Airport. Virat Kohli’s vented out his frustration after the journalist was spotted filming his kids without his permission, citing privacy concerns. Moreover, as per reports, Kohli urged the journalists to delete the images and videos of his kids, but asked her to keep his solo ones.
Days after this series of incident, a Nine Sports journalist, Tony Jones has hit out at the star Indian batter, labelling him as “bully”. Furthermore, the journalist has slammed Kohli for “berating” the female reporter. "Nat was out there with a cameraman, a Channel 7 reporter was out there with his cameraman and they were doing what we do on a daily basis essentially, and that's be at the airport to actually get identities, whether they're politicians, whether they're sporting identities or whatever. He took umbrage, he being Virat Kohli, to the fact the cameras were focused on him," Jones was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.
"Well duh! You're a batting superstar, you're a global superstar in the world of cricket, and he takes umbrage to the fact that the attention is focused on him. What really got my back up when I saw the footage was that he turned around to the three blokes, the two cameramen and the reporter from Channel 7, and said you guys are OK, it's her," he added. "Really? Big tough man, Virat. And then he stood over this girl, Nat Yoannidis, who's about five foot one, five foot two, and just absolutely berated her. You're nothing but a bully, Virat," a fuming Jones continued.
Speaking of the former Indian captain, Virat Kohli has had a mixed outing so far in the BGT 2024-25. Across three Tests, Kohli has amassed 126 runs with his highest being 100 not-out which came in Perth during India’s dominating 295-run win over Australia. The batting stalwart will hope to return to his best form as India take on Australia in the fourth Test, starting Thursday, December 26 at the MCG, Melbourne.
