Lucknow: India's batting heavy-weight Virat Kohli and the Super Giants global mentor Gautam Gambhir were involved in a war of words after the Indian Premier League fixture between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants here on Monday, adding another chapter to their rivalry.
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— 🤞विशाल🤞 (@Visl___) May 1, 2023
">— 🤞विशाल🤞 (@Visl___) May 1, 2023
More than a decade ago, Gambhir and Kohli charged at each other after the latter lost his wicket and was walking back to the pavilion in an IPL match between Kolkata Knight Riders and RCB. The duo was warned by the organising body for the verbal spat, back then.
On Monday, the exchange looked like a heated argument between the RCB batting maestro and the former KKR captain. Amit Mishra, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis and LSG assistant coach Vijay Dahiya, jumped in and separated the duo from escalating the situation any further. Broadcast visuals showed Kohli having a lengthy chat with LSG captain KL Rahul. Kohli's brief interaction with LSG opener Kyle Mayers seemed to have triggered the altercation.
Also read: IPL 2023: Bowlers dominate as RCB beat LSG by 18 runs
Gambhir was much more animated than Kohli. He was seen attempting to charge towards Kohli who was appeared calm but talking when the LSG players and support staff were trying to pacify the former India opener. The duo had shook hands moments before the outburst.
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'Shut up' Gambhir vs Kohli- During the previous encounter between LSG and RCB last month in Bengaluru, Gambhir had gestured towards the home team audience to 'shut up'. Kohli was seen making faces and the RCB cheekily shared pictures of him, captioning it with "The many moods of King Kohli". It also shared another image where Kohli was gesturing 'shut up', and wrote: "What goes around comes around! Our 12th Man Army send their regards."
The 2013 spat happened in the game at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in IPL season 6. Kohli was caught and was taking a walk to the pavilion when Gambhir ran past him to join the celebrations. It appeared there was some exchange of words between the two who were both skippers back then. The two were seen charging at each other and the duo was separated by their playmates before it could get worse.
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The many moods of King Kohli 🤭#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #LSGvRCB pic.twitter.com/F52r2rIhVN
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) May 1, 2023 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">The many moods of King Kohli 🤭#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #LSGvRCB pic.twitter.com/F52r2rIhVN
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) May 1, 2023The many moods of King Kohli 🤭#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #LSGvRCB pic.twitter.com/F52r2rIhVN
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) May 1, 2023
Both batting legends were issued an official warning and reprimanded for breaching the tournament's code of conduct. "Both Mr. Kohli and Mr. Gambhir admitted to the Level 1 offence (Article 2.1.4) of using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during the match," a statement from the IPL read.
LSG poor show- For the Super Giants, the poor run continued at home. LSG failed to chase 127. Since the start, the Lucknow team batting was woeful. Five top order batters returned to the pavilion soon after they walked in the first seven overs. Lucknow eventually was bowled out for 108 with one ball remaining.
