A video of former Indian captain Virat Kohli chewing gum while his teammates such as Jaspirit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant were singing national anthem when it was played during the final One Day International match between India and South Africa, is going viral with netizens coming down hard on the right hand batsman. Many believed that the cricketer was disrespecting the national anthem, being the ambassador of the nation and expressed their displeasure over the cricketer’s act.

The incident happened on 23rd of January when both the teams were out on the field before the start of the third ODI to sing the national anthems of their respective nations. As soon as India’s national anthem began, Camera started focussing the players of the team. While players like Jaspirit Bumrah, Rishabh Pant were seen singing the song along with the recording, Kohli was seen chewing something, most probably a gum.

Watch the video below :

Virat Kohli busy chewing something while National Anthem is playing. Ambassador of the nation.@BCCI pic.twitter.com/FiOA9roEkv

— Vaayumaindan (@bystanderever) January 23, 2022

The 33 year old senior cricketer’s gesture didn’t go well among the fans of the blue team. However, a set of other fans came in as a defence to cricketer as well. “There is difference between attitude and disrespect… Virat should know that…” a social media user said whereas another came up with a tweet writing “Humming national anthem doesn’t make someone patriotic. It should be in heart”

Check out some of the reactions below :

There is difference between attitude and disrespect… Virat should know that…#NationalAnthem #ViratKohli https://t.co/02zVuQ0B3p

— Menka Chaudhary (NEWS18) (@menka_chaudhary) January 23, 2022

Humming national anthem doesn’t make someone patriotic. It should be in heart

— Chinna (@reddirajasheker) January 23, 2022

Side effects of having bollywood people around

— Spyware (@Spywarecustom) January 23, 2022

Why are you recording while national anthem ? Shameless

— Stanning 🐐 (@Cric_fanatic_) January 23, 2022

What a shameful act by the face of world cricket 🤐🤐 https://t.co/uNGMqPmqws

— Prafull Singh🇮🇳 (@Prafull_22) January 24, 2022

Waiting for #ViratKohli to blame the cameraman here
How dare the cameras capture whn he was busy chewing something while National Anthem being played ? https://t.co/XX2yOaqnX6

— 𝓢𝓱𝔀𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓪 (@shwetha0811) January 24, 2022

SHAMELESS ARROGANT PERSON IS FINISHED
HE DONOT KNOW HOW TO PLAY EVEN WITH A STRAIGHT BAT
HE HAS NO RESPECT FOR HIS COUNTRY AND DO NOT DESERVE ANY MORE IN THE TEAM
SHAME ON HIM A 130 MIILION TIMES https://t.co/iHpkrfydi7

— Anil Kailashpati (@DharAnilkumar) January 24, 2022

If this had happened during my morning school assembly,the teacher would have pinched my ear so hard +pulled the hair from beside my ear that I would dare not repeat it. But Virat is exempted coz he isn’t in my school. But he should be remarked as ‘Room for improvement’. https://t.co/DODDFqXgrb

— Prerna Chettri (@prernachettri) January 24, 2022

Meanwhile our supreme leader sneeze and rub off his sweat using tricolour… https://t.co/61qVLBaIx1 pic.twitter.com/3Rl1AaZUCt

— Ｓｕｒｉｙａ Ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ (@SuriyaAbi6) January 24, 2022

Narendra Modi moving around when national anthem is playing https://t.co/qVL8JEcOqu pic.twitter.com/GJOg429ATW

— Bhavith Shetty (@BhavithShetty4) January 23, 2022