It has been over a week now since the all-famous Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir duel took place at the Ekana Sports City Stadium after a match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants. The spat between two World Cup-winning teammates took the spotlight away from all the stats and result of the contest between RCB and LSG. BCCI even docked a strict fine on both seniors cricketers after several veteran cricketers and fans expressed their disappointment over the heated exchange between Kohli and Gambhir.
Days after the duel, a Dainik Jagran report claimed that the enter Lucknow Super Giants team were “SHOCKED” to see what happened in Lucknow three weeks later after Gambhir and LSG assistant coach Vijay Dahiya were seen having a 45-minute conversation with Kohli when the two teams arrived in Bengaluru on April 10.
Where it all began
On May 1, it is being reported that Kohli had abused Kyle Mayers after RCB dismissed the LSG batter which fueled the tension. Later, Kohli was seen showing his shoe dust to Naveen.
What happened?
An eyewitness, who was in one of the team dug-outs, gave a lowdown of events to PTI. “You saw on TV that Mayers and Virat were walking side by side for a few metres post match. Mayers asked Kohli why was he constantly abusing them and Virat, in turn, questioned why was he (Mayers) ‘staring’ at him? Before that (Amit) Mishra had complained to umpire about Virat constantly abusing Naveen (ul-Haq), who is a No. 10 batter. Gautam, sensing that things could turn ugly, pulled Mayers and told him not to have a conversation, when Virat made a comment. The heated exchange that followed seemed a bit juvenile,” he said.
“Gautam asked ‘Kya bol raha hain bol’ (What were you saying?) and Virat replied, ‘Maine aapko kuch bola hi naahin, aap kyon ghus rahein ho’ (Why are you coming in between when I haven’t told you anything).
“Gautam responded, ‘Tuney agar mere player ko bola hai, matlab tune meri family ko gaali diya hai. (You abused my player and that’s like abusing my family) and Virat’s reply was, ‘Toh aap apne family ko sambhal ke rakhiye’ (Then you take care of your family).
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“Gambhir’s final reply before they were separated was, ‘Toh ab tu mujhe sikhayega…’ (So now I have to learn from you…).”
The eyewitness said that while it was tense and a blow away from turning into a free-for-all, it all seemed a bit juvenile at both ends.
Throwback to IPL 2013
Kohli vs Gambhir, does that ring any bells? Let us remind you that the seeds of the feud got into a tussle during IPL 2013 as well when Kohli was captain of RCB and Gambhir was the leader of KKR. After Kohli got out, Gambhir had some words for the RCB batter which did not go down well with him. He turned his back and in a blink of an eye the duo came face-to-face in aggression. They were separated by another Delhi boy, Rajat Bhatia at the Chinnswamy stadium.
