Actor Anushka Sharma rubbished the claims made by former Indian wicketkeeper Farokh Engineer in a strongly worded letter on Thursday, 31 October.
Engineer, in an interview, had claimed that Anushka, wife of Indian captain Virat Kohli, was served tea by the BCCI selectors during the ICC World Cup in England this year.
Calling it “ill-intended lies,” Anushka said she sat in the family box and not in the selectors box during the one match she attended during the quadrennial tournament.
In her statement, Anushka wrote, “I have always been of the opinion that maintaining silence on false & fabricated news and stories against one is the best way to deal with your detractors. This is how I have handled my career for 11 years now. I always saw dignity & truth embedded in the shadow of my silence.
“They say, say a lie so many times repeatedly that it starts to look like the truth and I am afraid this is what has been happening with me. My silence had made the lies spitted against me seem true but that ends today.
“I have stayed quiet through all the times I was blamed for the performance of my then boyfriend, now husband Virat and continue to take the blame for the most baseless things involving Indian cricket. I kept quiet then. My name has been used in fabricated stories claiming that I am part of close-door team meetings and influenced selection processes and I have kept silent. My name has been wrongfully used to say how I have been given preferential treatment or how I have overstayed my authorised time with my husband on foreign tours which if anyone really cared about finding facts from the board, would know that I have always and always followed protocol but yet, I kept quiet.
“My name was used for false stories to make it look like the board was being bothered for my tickets or security, etc when in reality I bought my own tickets for matches and flight and I still kept quiet. I was asked to stand in a group photo by the High Comissioner’s wife despite my hesitation to be in it, and a huge issue was created over this blaming me for intentionally wanting to be part of it and the said event, even though I was invited for it. An official clarification was issued by the board on the same and I still kept quiet.
“And the latest version of these ill intended lies is that I was being served tea by selectors at matches during the World Cup! I came to one game during the World Cup and sat in the family box and not the selectors box as reported but when has the truth mattered when it’s about convenience! If you want to have a comment on the selection committee and their qualifications please do so as it’s your opinion but don’t drag my name into it to substantiate your claim or sensationalise your opinion.”
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