Picture Credit: Twitter
England succumbed to an embarrassing defeat against India in the fourth Test of the ongoing series at The Oval by a substantial margin of 157 runs. Consequently, it is the visiting team who had taken a 2-1 lead with a solitary Test remaining. While Indian captain Virat Kohli is known for his animated and larger-than-life reactions on the cricket field, he did a similar gesture when India was marching towards a memorable venue in London on Monday.
Kohli, in fact, did a 'trumpet celebration' with both his hand while facing the English crowd. The gesture seemed to suggest that it's time to stop cheering for England but blow the trumpet for India's win. However, the celebration hasn't gone down too well with a section of the fans who have even called him "classless." No prizes for guessing most of such comments came from the supporters of the England cricket team.
"'Classless': World divided as Virat Kohli trolls Barmy Army after embarrassing England," a Tweet by the official handle of Fox Cricket read.
Here is the tweet:
Meanwhile, there were obviously fans who supported Kohli for his gesture and tactics on the cricket field. A section of the English fans also felt like it was targeted towards the Barmy Army, a group of fans and supporters of England cricket. However, there were voices on both sides and the opinions of the fans remained divided.
Talking about the match, India were splendid in all the departments of the game to win the Test. While their batters did have a poor outing in the first innings, late surge from Shardul Thakur helped them reach a total of respectability with 191. Later, England also seemed to be running with the game when they were batting but Indian bowlers ensured that Team India remained alive in the match by allowing them a lead of just 99. The Indian batters then led by Rohit Sharma's first overseas Test hundred and coupled with contributions from Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur set the Three Lions a target of 368 runs.
In response, while the home team had reached 100 without a loss, the consistent line and lengths and the pressure of saving the Test on the final day got to them as they were eventually bowled out for 210. The final Test match of the series will commence at Old Trafford on September 10.