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Virat Kohli lashed out at critics who blamed his girlfriend, Anushkha Sharma, for the India’s exit from ICC Cricket World Cup, saying they "should be ashamed of themselves" as "no one has won more matches" than him in the last five years.
India's Test captain opened up for the first time since the World Cup semi-final defeat, following which his film star girlfriend took a lot of unnecessary flak on various social networking sites.
"At a human level, I would say I was hurt and the people who said those things and the way they said should be ashamed of themselves," said Kohli on Friday, at a promotional event of his IPL franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, in reference to the abuse that the Bollywood star had to face after Kohli's poor show in the semi-final against Australia, which India lost by 95 runs.
Kohli was unusually open during his interaction with the media and he did not forget to mention his performance during the past five years.
"Personally, I was very disappointed. In last five years the number of matches I've helped India win and the consistently I've played is more than anyone else in the team.
“I don't think there's anybody else in the team who has done better than me," Kohli declared, with same swagger that one finds in his batting.
He said he now knows "whom to trust" after the public outrage over his poor show in the World Cup semi-final.
"To see those reactions after just one match was very disappointing for me, personally. It makes you lose faith in a lot of people. It's a good thing in a way. You get to know who's with you and who's not. It was not in my control. But the reactions were very disappointing," said Kohli, at the function where RCB announced its tie-up with home appliances brand Midea.
Taking a dig at the media, he sarcastically remarked that there are different parameters for different players when it comes to dip in form.
"It's funny that I never know when my rough patch comes, but you make the judgement. In my case, if I don't do well in two games, it's dip in form; but if some other player performs two games out of 10, they come back in form," said Kohli, at his sarcastic best.
"So I don't get the balance and I really don't pay attention to it. It's about how you hit the ball on that particular day," he added.