Australian media at times has been disgraceful to Virat Kohli, says Michael Clarke, on 'sweeper' remark

From accusing Virat Kohli of throwing a bottle at an Australian official during the last tour in February-March to labeling him "villain of the week", the Australian media seem to be obsessed with the Indian captain. Fox Sports also went a step further comparing Virat Kohli to the President of the United States, Donald Trump. True to form, Just before the limited-overs leg of the series, the Australian media were up to their usual antics by finding new ways to mock Virat Kohli.

An Australian journalist posted a year-old photo of the Indian skipper sweeping the Eden Garden stadium for a Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan event, with a rather objectionable caption, which read, “Sweepers clean the stadium in readiness for the World XI match.”

The dig did not go down well with Kohli fans on social media, and users from both India and Pakistan got together to slam the journalist for his inappropriate comment. After coming to know of the incident, Michael Clarke slammed the Aussie media for crossing the line time and time again when criticizing the Indian skipper.

"Virat won't care whatsoever. If anything this will inspire him to want to beat Australia even more. This stuff is what Virat Kohli loves. He loves it when a player sledges him or somebody in the media fires him up. It gives him another reason to come out and perform,” Clarke said to India Today.

“If I was the Australian team I wouldn't be happy at this stage. His (Kohli's) fans are obviously going to come out and support him. There was probably no need for it at all," Clarke said.

However, Clarke believes that Kohli will not be bogged down by all these disgraceful antics and take it as an inspiration to reach further heights.

"I think you should take it as a compliment. It's no different to how you walk out in the field against England and get booed. I used to take that as a compliment. I used to think there's a reason they don't like you because you are performing against them.

"I've said this openly that Australian media at times has been disgraceful in regards to the way they have treated Virat Kohli," Clarke added.

The first match of the ODI series will be played tomorrow at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

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