A former teammate of Virat Kohli is facing attacks from netizens after he accused Anushka Sharma and Athiya Shetty of being ignorant about cricket. The former India cricketer, Harbhajan Singh, made this comment while on commentary duty for Star Sports during the India-Australia World Cup final.
Both Anushka and Athiya are married to Virat Kohli and KL Rahul respectively. They both are Bollywood actors.
India lost the final by six wickets as Australia won the coveted title for a record sixth time. After India lost three quick wickets in the final, KL Rahul and Virat Kohli decided to provide stability to the Indian innings. Both scored half-centuries. While they were batting, the TV camera shifted its attention to Athiya and Anushka, who were seated next to each other and seen speaking to each other.
One commentator wondered if the two ladies will leave their seats while their husbands were at the crease. This prompted Harbhajan, now a Rajya Sabha MP with Aam Aadmi Party, to question the cricketing knowledge of the two ladies.
“Yahi main soch raha tha ki baat cricket ki ho rahi hogi ya phir films ki..kyunki cricket ke baare mein toh main jaanta nahi kitni samajh hogi (This is exactly I was wondering if they would be discussing cricket or films. That’s because I don’t think they have much understanding of cricket.),” Harbhajan was quoted as saying.
@harbhajan_singh What do you mean that the ladies understand cricket or not?? Please apologise immediately. @AnushkaSharma@theathiyashetty@klrahul@imVkohli#INDvsAUSfinal #INDvAUS #ICCWorldCupFinal pic.twitter.com/8gKlG8WvJP
— Arunodaya Singh (@ArunodayaSingh3) November 19, 2023
This prompted netizens to accuse Harbhajan of being sexist. One wrote, “@harbhajan_singh What do you mean that the ladies understand cricket or not?? Please apologise immediately.” Another user defended the former cricketer as he wrote, “Nothing has been said that deserves an apology… no moral policing is happening here.”