Anushka Sharma, Bollywood actress and the wife of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, has broken her silence over the false news spread by former Indian wicket-keeper Farokh Engineer who launched a scathing attack on Indian selectors by claiming that they were serving cups of tea to Anushka Sharma during the 2019 ICC World Cup.
In a statement issued on Twitter, the top-level Hindi movie actress slammed her detractors for maliciously dragging her to false and fabricated news. She says that its time she broke her silence and spoke the truth.
— Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) October 31, 2019
Without taking any names, Anushka Sharma has hit out at former Indian wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer’s comment saying that if one wants to criticise the selection committee they are free to do so but she does not appreciate that her name is dragged into the controversy to sensationalise the news.
The 82-year-old former wicket-keeper, Farokh Engineer has stirred controversy by dragging Anushka’s name while launching an attack on the Supreme Court-appointed Committee Of Administrators (CoA), which was in charge of the BCCI for 33 months before the recent election, which saw Sourav Ganguly become president. Calling them “honeymooners” and a “Mickey Mouse selection committee,” in an interview with The Times of India Engineer said: “All they were doing was getting Anushka Sharma cups of tea. I feel people with the stature of Dilip Vengsarkar should be in the selection committee.”
Miffed over the malicious allegation, accusing her of interference in the selection process of BCCI, the Indian actress in an emotional post refuted at all the accusations meted out at her in present as well as in her past.
She wrote that her “silence has made the lies spitted against her seem true but that needs to end today”. She said how in the past she has been held responsible for her then-boyfriend and now husband’s performance. How her name has been used in fabricated stories claiming that she has been a part of team meetings and selection processes. Anushka wrote how she has been blamed for flouting rules and protocols. She further divulges that there have been false stories floated to make it appear as though BCCI has paid for her tickets, accommodations and security whenever she has accompanied her husband for international tours, which she affirms are completely baseless and untrue.
Anushka also refuted the allegation that she was in the selectors’ box during a World Cup match. She said that she attended one World Cup match which she watched from the family box. She also said that she had bought her tickets for matches and flights, they were not paid for BCCI as alleged.
Anushka Sharma has several times in the past found herself at the epicentre of massive backlash directed towards BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). Last year, she was mercilessly trolled on Twitter for being the “odd one out” in a photo tweeted by BCCI, after she accompanied her husband Virat Kohli, along with Team India, to a gathering hosted by the High Commission of India in London. In the post-Anushka said that she was invited for the event, and she was asked to be part of the group photo.
After BCCI tweeted the photo featuring Anushka along with Team India, many on Twitter enquired how the star wife continues to accompany Virat for the Test series as BCCI had barred girlfriends and wives of the Indian players from joining their partners till the Test against England is over.
The Bollywood actor in her post has said that she now refuses to allow anyone to use her name in any such controversies. “Today I have decided to speak up because someone’s silence cannot be taken as their weakness. I am not and will not be a pawn to be used by anyone’s thought or belief or agendas and next time you want to use my name to discredit someone or the board or even my husband, to it with facts or proof or leave me out of it”, said the Indian actress.
