New Delhi: Brad Hodge has tendered a timely apology to Virat Kohli for his remarks which insinuated that the latter pulled out of the fourth and final Test match of the recently concluded India-Australia series to save himself for the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The former Aussie player, who is also the head coach of IPL franchise Gujarat Lions, took to social media site Twitter and said that he respected Kohli and meant no "ill intention".
"I take this opportunity to apologise to the people of India, cricket fans, the Indian national cricket team and particularly Virat Kohli for my previous comments," he posted to Twitter.
— Brad Hodge (@bradhodge007) March 29, 2017
"My intention was never to harm, criticise or be derogatory toward anyone. They were intended to be light-hearted comments with the utmost respect to the Indian Premier League which I have thoroughly enjoyed through the years.
"The public and fans have every right to be upset, and the backlash I have received has certainly driven this home."
The former Australian cricketer's comments added more fuel to the an already simmering contest between the two camps.
Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir, defending his Delhi state-mate, came down heavily on Hodge, and said that the Aussie was probably trying to garner headlines as Kohli would have never done that.
Hodge made those controversial remarks last Sunday.
"You`d hope as a sportsman that he`s seriously injured.
"Because if you miss one game of Test match cricket and you`re fronting up the next week for RCB (Royal Challengers Bangalore) versus whoever... you`d be pretty dirty if he didn`t front up to a Test match and try and win a valuable series against Australia," he told Fox Sports.
His retraction might just save the blues for the Aussies, or at least prove to be the first step towards a bigger reconciliation between the two heavyweights of the game, especially with another edition of world's leading cricket league staring in next week.
Besides Hodge, there will be host of former and present Aussie stars plying their trade in the IPL.
The 10th edition of IPL will start on April 5.
Kohli is the captain of RCB, and speculations are rife that he will miss the initial stage of the tournament.
The 28-year-old injured his right shoulder while diving to stop a boundary on Day 1 of the drawn third Test in Ranchi. He sat out the series finale in Dharamsala, which India won by eight wickets to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, with 2-1 win.
