India head coach Rahul Dravid reacted to the leaked footage of Virat Kohli’s hotel room after their T20 World Cup Super 12 match against South Africa in Perth that left the India No.3 ‘appalled.’ Calling the incident ‘disappointing,’ Dravid said a hotel room is one place where the players feel most secure and when that privacy is breached ‘it is not a nice feeling.’
Kohli reshared the video on his Instagram handle on Monday in which a person can be seen recording the interiors of his hotel room in Crown Resorts Perth. Kohli’s personal belongings, his health supplements, his collection of shoes, and his opened suitcase were all shown in the video titled ‘King Kohli’s hotel room.’
After Kohli’s lengthy Instagram post in which he said he was “paranoid about his privacy,” Crown Resorts issued an official apology and also sacked the personnel involved.
“It was disappointing, it’s not very comfortable for anyone, let alone Virat. We have flagged it with the relevant authorities, and they have taken action. Hopefully, incidents like this won’t happen in the future and hopefully, people are a lot more careful. That’s (hotel room) the one place you feel you are away from the prying eyes and without the media glare, without the photographers and all of these that the players have to deal with. When that’s taken away, it’s not really a nice feeling,” Dravid said in the pre-match press conference in Adelaide on Tuesday.
The India head coach also added that Kohli has put all that behind him and appears to be in good shape on the eve of the next match against Bangladesh in Adelaide after the Indian team management took up the matter with the authorities concerned and swift action was taken.
“He has dealt with it very well. He’s here to train. He’s absolutely fine,” Dravid added.
Kohli has been in fantastic form in this World Cup. It was individual brilliance (82* off 53 balls) that won India the first game against Pakistan and then he backed that up with another solid half-century against the Netherlands to help India win the game. In the match against South Africa, Kohli looked good till he was out there but he was out trying to hook a Lungi Ngidi delivery.
The former India captain will be looking to put all the controversy behind and put his best foot forward in India’s must-win match against Bangladesh on Wednesday.