BCCI tells Kohli to maintain dignity of team

Mumbai, March 5 (IANS) Finally after all the hustle and bustle regarding the controversy surrounding Virat Kohli abusing a journalist, the Indian cricket board on Thursday said that it has told Kohli "to maintain the dignity of the Indian team at all times".

The incident involved Kohli verbally abusing Hindustan Times correspondent Jasvinder Sindhu during the Indian cricket team's practice session at Perth on Tuesday in a case of mistaken identity.

"The BCCI has taken note of the incident that occurred at Perth a couple of days ago. The BCCI has been in touch with the Indian team management on this issue and has advised that this kind of incident should not be repeated," Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) newly appointed secretary Anurag Thakur said in a statement.

"The player in question has been told to maintain the dignity of the Indian team at all times and avoid any such behaviour in the future."

Vice-captain Kohli hurled expletives at Sidhu thinking he was Indian Express national sports editor Sandeep Dwivedi, who during India's tour of England last summer wrote an article vis-a-vis Kohli and his actress girlfriend Anushka Sharma.

BCCI's reaction comes in the wake of Hindustan Times taking serious note of the incident and lodging official complaints with the board and the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"The BCCI respects the role played by the media in covering and popularising the game of cricket and acknowledges the support of the media in its mission to administer and promote the game of cricket in India," added Thakur.

"The BCCI would like to request the concerned parties to move on and focus on the Indian cricket team’s campaign in the ongoing ICC CWC 2015."

India play their next World Cup Pool B match against the West Indies at the WACA in Perth on Friday.