After Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir got into a heated argument despite no longer serving as IPL captains. It had been nearly ten years since their altercation during the IPL match between RCB and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru. Gambhir is retired and serves as the global mentor at LSG, while Kohli currently plays for RCB as specialist batter.
Following the game, the LSG bowler Naveen-ul-Haq and Kohli appeared to argue while exchanging handshakes. Gambhir then pulled Kyle Mayers, the first batsman for his team, away from a conversation with Kohli.
A few seconds later, Gambhir was seen advancing on Kohli with aggression while being restrained by his teammates, including the injured skipper KL Rahul. When the two got in each other’s faces, Kohli appeared to be attempting to calm Gambhir by placing his hand on Gambhir’s shoulder. However, the conversation quickly turned tense, and veteran spinner Amit Mishra intervened to keep the two apart.
Both Kohli and Gambhir received fines from the IPL equal to 100% of their match fees. They were deemed to have violated item 2.21 of the tournament’s code of conduct, which prohibits any action that denigrates the game, including disorderly public behaviour. 50% of his match fees served as fine to Naveen.
In an away game where RCB successfully defended 126, Kohli displayed more energy throughout the fielding innings. The crowd was more in favour of the visitors than the hosts. He hushed the audience after taking a catch to dismiss Krunal Pandya, probably in retaliation to Gambhir’s quiet Bengaluru supporters following Bengaluru’s last-ball victory in the first match between the two teams. When the game was all but over in the 17th over of the chase, he and Naveen even got into a heated argument. Then, Mishra and an umpire had to step in.
The game undoubtedly had the vibe of a grudge match, which spread to both sides’ social media accounts. Ladies and gentlemen, this is how you do it, LSG tweeted after the most recent game, and it was instantly reposted by an insider of the RCB club. PLAY BOLD. It appeared to be a parody of RCB’s slogan. Following this victory, Kohli’s image of calming the crowd was tweeted by RCB’s official account with the following caption: “What goes around comes around.”
*A candid image of Kohli was heard stating, “That’s a sweet win boys,” in a dressing room responses video posted on RCB’s YouTube channel. Sweet victory. You must accept what you can provide. If not, don’t give it.
He later continued,addressing camera “It was a really important win for us,”. It feels amazing that the home crowd gave us greater encouragement. It reveals how well-liked we are as a group and how many people support us. It’s a wonderful victory. Feels great for a variety of reasons, but most significantly for the moral courage we displayed in defending that sum. Everyone, I believe, had faith in our ability to succeed, and we came out on top, which is fantastic.