Indian cricketer Virat Kohli has always been the biggest supporter of his wife, Anushka Sharma, and comes to her defence whenever she has been unjustly trolled for his performance on the field. Ever since the couple, who married in 2017, got together, they have been targets of trolls.
Women have always been easy scapegoats for men. And with Yograj Singh‘s recent sexist remark blaming wives and kids being the main reason behind cricketers’ early retirement, it is important to revisit Virat’s remarks defending Anushka. He highlighted how our country loves to blame women and challenged the double standards of cricket fans.
Virat Kohli’s famous quote about Anushka Sharma
Virat Kohli said in a 2023 interview with Graham Bensinger, “Ever since we played the World Cup in 2015 and played a semi-final, I got out, I did not score many runs, and my wife was there watching the game, and for some reason people in our country love to blame women. And apparently, the reason why we lost was that she was sitting in the stadium and she brought bad luck.”
Kohli continued by stating, “It can get to that stage! A person who has no involvement in the game, who’s just watching, supporting her husband and the country, suddenly has the most adverse effect on the game. It started from there, you know, she was regularly being targeted and trolled and being pulled down whenever I didn’t do well, and we sensed a lot of insecurity because of her presence around the whole system. And then it got to a stage where, again, some incident happened, people started trolling her, and all those things happened, and then we spoke, and she was quite hurt by it. This has to stop at a certain stage.”
Why does Virat Kohli’s old quote matter?
Virat Kohli made this statement in the context of the 2015 World Cup semi-final, during which he scored only a few runs. His wife, Anushka Sharma, was in the stadium watching the game, and for some reason, people blamed her for Virat’s poor game and called her bad luck. He emphasised the unfairness of this behaviour, pointing out that a person with no involvement in the game was targeted and trolled simply for supporting her husband.
At first glance, his quote may seem like a husband supporting his wife. However, it digs deeper than that, exposing the sexist views and double standards of our society. It matters even more today because of how casually Yograj Singh, cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s father, made the sexist statement blaming the partners of cricket players.
He had said, “I have seen people in India going, ‘we are getting old after turning 40’. Women go out of shape when they turn 30, saying our kids have grown up. What can we do? I started this regimen in my gym, where I am a director, and I consciously decided to bring the senior citizens into shape. How can one relate playing the game to the age?”
He added, “You know what happens: your ladies of the house, your wives, they start coaching you, telling you it’s time to retire, time to look after the family, the kids. So I believe women should not come in between the legendary prospect of an athlete, fakir aur player yeh dono ka koi dharam nahi hai, warg nahi hai (Noble men and players don’t have any religion), they belong to God. As long as they live, they can do a lot of things. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are young cricketers, and they want to quit. Laanat hai zindagi bhar.”
His statement not only blames women for a scenario they have little role in, but also dismisses the labour women put into raising children and puts the entire burden of handling the house, kids, and other related activities on women.
