Viewers witnessed some ugly scenes following the conclusion of the IPL match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) as star RCB player Virat Kohli and LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir engaged in a war of words. This is not the first time that the two have come face to face in a heated exchange in an IPL match as the decade-long feud continues to simmer.
Back in April 2013, the viewers first saw a tense face-off between the two veterans of Indian cricket during a match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and RCB. Following his dismissal in the 10th over of the RCB innings, Kohli turned towards the pavilion before turning back in anger after something was said by the opposition fielders. Soon, we saw dramatic scenes as Kohli and Gambhir charged toward each other aggressively.
As tensions escalated, Rajat Bhatia, who also hails from Delhi like Kohli and Gambhir, stepped in to pull the two apart. Later, the umpires took Gambhir away as Kohli headed to the pavilion.
Talking about the incident recently, Gambhir said, “I am absolutely fine with it and I expect him to be like that. I am like that. I like that contest, I like people who are competitive. MS Dhoni is a competitor in his own way, Virat is a competitor in his own way. Sometimes when you are leading the side, you have to do it even if you don’t want to do it because you want your team to play the way you want. As a leader, sometimes you are not thinking about personal relationships with the other guy but just because you are leading a team, you have to do it.”
Even though Gambhir said he was fine with the incident, he always seems to have a little bit more aggression while playing against RCB since then. In the 2016 IPL, at the Eden Garden, during a match between KKR and RCB, Gambhir threw the ball aggressively at the end where Kohli was standing well within his crease, prompting the umpires to once again have a word with the former Indian opener.
The long-running tensions seem to have finally peaked during this edition of the IPL. Following LSG’s last-ball win against RCB at their home ground in Bengaluru, Gambhir motioned to the crowd to keep quiet. Irked by the chants of the RCB crowd, Gambhir wanted them to quieten down after their team’s defeat. This gesture was obviously not well received by Virat Kohli as we saw from his reaction in Lucknow yesterday.
Kohli, who is always usually charged up in the field, was especially fired up as Lucknow lost one wicket after another. Kohli was celebrating each LSG wicket like it was a World Cup final as Gambhir watched solemnly from the dugout. Taking a dig at Gambhir’s gesture, Kohli even asked the crowd not to be quiet but to chant RCB’s name as he pointed at the RCB logo on his jersey.
A fired-up Kohli had an argument even with the Afghanistan player Naveen-ul-Haq who was batting at number 10 for Lucknow. While the youngster must be wondering what wrong did he do for such a big star to go after him, little does he know that he was just collateral damage of this long-running feud.
Following the conclusion of the match, with RCB winning by 18 runs, Kohli was engaged in words with the West Indian Kyle Mayers when Gambhir came and pulled Mayers away. That is when Kohli and Gambhir got into their war of words even as the other players and support staff stepped in to separate the duo.
KL Rahul, who was struggling to walk after suffering a serious injury, had to try and resolve things between his team’s mentor and his long-time international teammate. Following the incident, KL Rahul and Kohli were engaged in a long chat.
With both Kohli and Gambhir still very much involved in the IPL, it is unlikely that we have seen the last of this rivalry. The organisers and broadcasters must be hoping for another match between their respective teams this season in the playoffs so that they can get absolutely bumper ratings as everyone tunes in to watch the two face-off once again.
While the two can not see eye to eye these days, Kohli and Gambhir were teammates for several years. In fact, they helped India win the World Cup in 2011 and even put on a crucial partnership to bring India back into the match after the quick wickets of Tendulkar and Sehwag. Gambhir even gave Kohli his Man of The Match award once after India beat Sri Lanka with their twin centuries. However, fair to say that those days of camaraderie are long in the past.
