Seeds of Monday night’s ugly brawl between RCB’s Virat and LSG’s Gautam Gambhir were sown on April 10 when Gambhir had shushed the Bangalore crowd after his team won a last-ball thriller
RCB’s Virat Kohli gestures to the Lucknow crowd at the Ekana Stadium during the IPL match against LSG on Monday. Pic/BCCI
Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have been the stormy petrels of Indian cricket. Both don’t shy away from verbally taking on opponents on the field of play and both have a long history of misdemeanors.
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They were colleagues in the Delhi Ranji team and have had issues with each other over the years. On Monday night, they clashed again, after Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium here by 18 runs.
The total of 126 is among the lowest defended by an IPL team. However, the issue of the continued poor quality of the black soil pitch here was overshadowed when Kohli first took on a few LSG players, including Naveen-ul-Haq and Amit Mishra on the field and then Gambhir after the match. The ruckus was in full view of the spectators and watched by millions of viewers on TV and the internet around the world. Both Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100 per cent of their match fee after they were found guilty of a Level 2 offence while Naveen-ul-Haq lost 50 per cent of his match fees for a Level 1 offence. All three admitted to their respective offences and accepted the fines.
Also Read: Kohli vs Gambhir 2.0: When Gautam 'sacrificed' his POTM award for centurion Virat
The real story
So, what was the genesis of this brawl?
Apparently, it all started during the match between RCB and LSG on April 10, when LSG mentor Gambhir in an over-exuberant celebration put his finger on his lips, indicating to the home spectators to remain silent after RCB lost in a thrilling last-ball finish. That did not go down well with Kohli, who in the return fixture, was keen to return the favour. And as RCB seemed to be defending one of the lowest IPL scores as the home team crumbled under pressure, Kohli got increasingly animated. The RCB stalwart was seen screaming, fist-pumping and putting a finger on his lips to then indicate to the crowd, who had come in large numbers to support him wearing his No. 18 jersey, not to keep quiet and to instead keep supporting him. This was apparently in reply to Gambhir’s shushing gesture after that last-ball thriller in Bangalore.
Naveen, Mishra involved too
On the field, Kohli exchanged some harsh words with LSG’s Naveen and Mishra and the umpires had to intervene to calm things down. Then, as the match ended, and one thought that sanity would prevail, Naveen and Kohli again exchanged some words while shaking hands, and as soon as Gambhir pulled away LSG opener Kyle Mayer, who had approached Kohli for some technical advice, all hell broke loose. There was finger-pointing and shouting till a few players, including LSG captain KL Rahul pulled them apart. It is learnt that Rahul, after speaking to Kohli, had asked Naveen to apologise to him, but his teammate refused. This led to a late hearing by match referee Prakash Bhatt, following which the BCCI sent out a press release announcing the quantum of fines for the three players without giving out any details any reasons.
Kohli is one of the biggest youth icons of the country while Gambhir is now a Member of Parliament. Both have the responsibility to be an inspiration not only for cricket fans, but also the young generation who love and respect the two stars of Indian cricket as a whole. However, unfortunately and not for the first time, both have failed in their responsibility.
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