Kohli praised for confronting crowd over Australia’s Smith

India captain Virat Kohli has been widely praised for his reaction to the crowd during a match against Australia in the Cricket World Cup.

Kohli defended Australian player Steve Smith, after he was booed by Indian fans during Sunday's match, towards the Indian crowd and motioning for them to applaud instead of booing him.

Smith is back in the Australian side after a year's suspension for ball-tampering. It is that incident that has provoked crowds into heckling him.

Speaking after the match Kohli said he had also apologised to Smith.

"What has happened is in the past, I felt bad for him," he said.

"We've had issues in the past, we have had arguments on the field. But you don't want to see a guy feeling that heat every time he goes out to play," the India captain added.