Chain of events that led to Kohli-Gambhir brawl: 3 things to know Cricket
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 18 runs in a very tight match played in Lucknow. IPL 2023 The tie was spoiled both during and after the match. It was not pleasant to watch the members of India’s two World Cup winning team – Virat Kohli And Gautam Gambhir – Nearly coming to blows once again sparks a falling out between two former teammates. It not only took away the sheen of a low-scoring match in a record-high-scoring tournament, but also painted a grim picture of both the teams.
Everything was going well until the chase with Kohli, Amit Mishra, Naveen-ul-Haq, Kyle Mayer and finally Gambhir getting out of proportion. As you are wondering what, when and how the slugfest went down, we present a detailed account of the chain of events that led to a full-blown spat between Kohli and Gambhir.
No.1 Gambhir ‘shushes’ the RCB crowd and follows it up with an aggressive handshake with Kohli
Gautam Gambhir, who is the mentor of LSG, aggressively celebrated his team’s narrow win over RCB last month, prompting RCB fans to silence them by putting a finger to their lips. RCB came into the comeback with a point to prove, at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, and it showed in their aggression on the field as they came out to defend 126.
Every wicket was celebrated with wild roars, fist pumps and flying kisses, targeting the crowd. At several stages, Kohli even organized the crowd like he usually does in international cricket, despite it being the opposition’s home ground. It was then that Kohli decided to give it back to Gambhir after he took a catch and celebrated with his ‘finger on lips’. The rivalry was going on.
2 what happened naveen-ul-haq vs kohli
Things started going south in the fag over of the LSG chase when Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq was at the crease. Kohli, sensing the fall of regular wickets and blood, signaled Siraj to bowl a bouncer at Naveen. Naveen saw this and had a few words with Kohli, following which an altercation ensued. Non-striker Amit Mishra and the umpires had to intervene to separate the two players. More words were exchanged, albeit from a distance, as Kohli moved towards his position on cover. From the non-striker’s end, Mishra requested Kohli to calm down, which might have prompted the latter to come up to him and have a chat.
During the customary handshake between the two teams after the match, anger flared up again. Kohli and Naveen exchanged words even as they moved on to shake hands with the next player. This time Glenn Maxwell played the role of a mediator, separating the two players. After the tension eased a bit, Kohli had an animated discussion with Lucknow skipper KL Rahul. He seemed clearly incensed by what had happened, and one of his many during that conversation included the hand gesture of silence that Gambhir had done in Bangalore and then Kohli repeated in Lucknow. Naveen happened to pass by the two during this conversation, and Rahul asked him to join in, presumably to sort things out. Naveen did not oblige.
This is not the first time that Naveen has engaged in such confrontation. Two years ago during a PSL match, Naveen got into Shahid Afridi’s face in one of the biggest controversial moments of the league.
3 Gambhir pulls Meyers and throws it at Kohli
After the handshake, Kyle Mayer was seen talking to Kohli. It was cut short when Gambhir took Mayer away. Gambhir was then seen mumbling something about Kohli and also tried to level allegations towards him. While he was stopped by several teammates including Rahul, he clashed with Kohli. Kohli and Gambhir were seen exchanging words and had to be separated from the two sets of players, including RCB skipper Faf du Plessis. Kohli seemed to be presenting his side, but neither side was in a conciliatory mood.
