In a shocking incident that was brought to attention by Virat Kohli on October 31 (Monday), an unknown person entered star Indian cricketer's hotel room and filmed the surroundings in the absence of the 33-year-old. The former India captain posted a 29-second clip on his Instagram account where a man wearing a black suit can be seen making a video of the things inside Kohli's room.
A 'paranoid' Kohli didn't mince his words while criticising the act and affirmed that this is an 'absolute invasion of privacy'.
"I understand that fans get very happy and excited seeing their favourite players and get excited to meet them and I’ve always appreciated that. But this video here is appalling and it’s made me feel very paranoid about my privacy," Kohli wrote on Instagram while sharing the video which had 'King Kohli's Hotel Room' captioned on it.
"If I cannot have privacy in my own hotel room, then where can I really expect any personal space at all?? I’m NOT okay with this kind of fanaticism and absolute invasion of privacy. Please respect people’s privacy and not treat them as a commodity for entertainment," the former India captain added.
Reacting to the appalling incident, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid didn't mince his words and termed it disappointing while also affirming that the star Indian batter is 'fine'.
"Yeah, obviously it was disappointing. It’s not very comfortable for anyone, let alone Virat. It is disappointing, but yeah, we have flagged it with the relevant authorities. They have taken action and, hopefully, you know incidents like this will not happen, you know, in the future and, hopefully, people are a lot more careful because it’s the only place where you are away from people’s prying eyes and without the media glare on you and without the photographs that you know all of these players have to deal with," Dravid said during the press conference on November 01 (Tuesday).
"It’s the one place where you hope to feel secure and safe and that’s taken away. That’s not a really nice feeling, but yeah, I think he’s dealt with it really well. He is fine, he’s here at training, he’s absolutely perfect and I’m really hoping we’ve taken it up with the relevant authorities and that’s all we can do," he added.
Meanwhile, Team India lost its third Super-12 match against South Africa by five wickets at the Optus Stadium in Perth on October 31 (Sunday). The Men in Blue had registered wins in their previous two fixtures, first against arch-rivals Pakistan and then versus the Netherlands.
While South Africa (5 points from 3 games) are now on top of group 2, India (4 points from 2 games) with upcoming matches against Bangladesh (November 2 in Adelaide) and Zimbabwe (November 6 in Melbourne) are well within striking distance of a semi-final berth.
