At the end of the 11th over of Australia’s second innings on the third day of the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Virat Kohli was engaged in a battle with the Australian fans at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), gesturing that there is no sandpaper in his pockets or inside his pants.
The gesture was in a reference to the infamous sandpaper incident where Australia were caught tampering with the ball in 2018 in Cape Town against South Africa.
Kohli turned his pockets inside out to show that they were empty. He then stretched the waistband of his pants to show that he had nothing inside either in a reference to Cameron Bancroft’s act of hiding a piece of sandpaper in his underwear.
“What is that about?”#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/HwNZXhKW1S
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) January 5, 2025
Interestingly, back in 2019 Virat Kohli was given the ICC’s Spirit of Cricket award for his actions during the ODI World Cup match between India and Australia at The Oval.
The then Indian captain urged fans not to boo Steve Smith while the batsman was fielding near the boundary, not long after he returned from a year-long ball-tampering ban.
Kohli was batting when the jeers rang out and, in between overs, he walked towards the stand from which the boos were emanating and gestured to them to clap Smith.
“I’m surprised that I have got it, after many years of being under the scanner for the wrong things,” Kohli had said.
“It is part of camaraderie that sportsmen must have with each other. That moment was purely understanding an individual’s situation. I don’t think a guy who is coming out of a situation like that needs to be taken advantage of.
“You can sledge, can have have banter on the field, you say things to the opposition in wanting to beat them. But booing someone is not in the spirit of any sport, I don’t endorse it.
“Also, that should not be a representation of our fans and what we stand as a cricketing nation, a sporting nation. We need to all take responsibility towards that. Intimidate the opposition, definitely try and have an upper hand but in a matter that is not targeting someone emotionally. That is not acceptable at any level and people should be wary of that.”
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