Farokh apologises to Anushka Sharma, but adds 'tea' incident happened

Former India cricket player Farokh Engineer on Thursday evening apologised to actor Anushka Sharma, who is the wife of Indian team captain Virat Kohli, as controversy grew over his claims that team selectors were serving tea to her at matches in this year's ODI World Cup.

Earlier on Thursday, Sharma had posted a long statement on Twitter on the allegations made by Engineer in an interview with The Times of India. Engineer had claimed, "All they [selectors] were doing was getting Anushka Sharma cups of tea" during the World Cup.

Engineer apologised to Sharma during an interview with Republic TV. Engineer said, "I am not criticising Anushka. She is such a lovely and charming lady. A wonderful human being. She and Virat Kohli are role models. I am not her detractor at all. If she has felt offended, I apologise to her. I am so sorry if she felt bad." Engineer added that he had "nothing against Anushka or Virat”, but his "ire was only against the selectors whom I found probably not doing their job".

Engineer claimed that he had made the comments “in jest” and a mountain was being made out of a molehill. He told Republic TV the entire matter is “being blown up unnecessarily”.

However, Engineer told Republic TV that the incident of a selector serving TV to Sharma had indeed happened. Engineer said Anushka might not have known who had served her, but added the selectors had gone beyond their briefs. Engineer added, "It's not like Anushka had asked them to do it. I know them [Kohli and Sharma] very well. They are such lovely persons," but added the same could not be said about the selectors.

In his interview to the Times of India, Engineer argued that the selection committee was a "Mickey Mouse selection committee" that was unqualified for the job. Engineer had also claimed Kohli has a major role in the selection process, but added "it was a good thing".