Lehmann, Sutherland dismiss Kohli’s allegations
Bengaluru, March 8 (IANS) Australia coach Darren Lehmann on Wednesday trashed India skipper Virat Kohli’s allegations on the visitors taking directions from the dressing room on the usage of Decision Review System (DRS), saying that the Kangaroos have played the game in the right spirit.
Lehmann said he was surprised to hear Kohli’s accusations after the hosts levelled the series 1-1 by winning the second Test within four days by 75 runs.
“Never, ever, ever,” was Lehmann’s unequivocal response, according to a statement from Cricket Australia (CA).
“Very surprised to hear that, but it’s their opinion. He (Kohli) has his opinion and we have ours, but at the end of the day we play the game the right way.”
“We’ve changed the way we want to play, we’ve obviously changed the side and we’re a younger side so I’m pretty pleased with the way we do things now. We’ve never done any of that, so we’ll just get on with the next game,” he added.
Meanwhile, CA chief executive officer James Sutherland termed the allegations on skipper Steve Smith as “outrageous”.
“I find the allegations questioning the integrity of Steve Smith, the Australian Team and the dressing room, outrageous,” Sutherland said.
“Steve is an outstanding cricketer and person, and role model to many aspiring cricketers and we have every faith that there was no ill-intent in his actions.”
“We reject any commentary that suggests our integrity was brought into disrepute or that systemic unfair tactics are used, and stand by Steve and the Australian Cricketers who are proudly representing our country,” he added.
The 28-year-old Kohli had on Tuesday stopped just short of accusing the visitors of cheating, claiming that they had repeatedly looked to the dressing room for DRS advice, which Smith defended by terming it as a brain fade.