The IPL 2023 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Delhi Capitals (DC) last week was in news for some interesting reasons other than DC losing their fifth straight match in the tournament.
Controversy erupted when Virat Kohli, the RCB batter, ignored Sourav Ganguly during the team handshakes. A day later, it was reported that Kohli had unfollowed the former Indian captain on Instagram. Furthermore, it seemed Ganguly had returned the favor on the same social media platform within the same week.
Seemingly the reported rift began when Kohli’s decision to step down as India’s captain in T20Is didn’t sit well with Sourav Ganguly, who was then BCCI president, and Chetan Sharma, who was then the chief of the selection committee.
Kohli was later removed as ODI captain as well, and merely a month later, the batter also stepped down as the Test captain.
While Sourav Ganguly said that he and Chetan Sharma personally called Virat and asked him not to step down as captain; Kohli mentioned that he received no such call and the whole issue snowballed into a huge controversy.
Meanwhile, after RCB thumped DC at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in IPL 2023, Kohli shook his hand with Ricky Ponting and almost proceeded to skip Ganguly before the DC head coach stopped him for a brief chat.
Ganguly, too, ignored Kohli and walked past the duo, continuing to greet the other members of RCB.
Now DC assistant coach Shane Watson was asked to clarify the situation between the two on ‘The Grade Cricketer’ podcast.
He said: “It could be rumor-mongering, but I'm not sure. So, it's not something I want to get involved in. But there was some fire in Virat's belly, that's for sure. From an opposition point of view, that's the last thing you need as well. Virat, when he's like that, that's when he's at his absolute best. Whatever reason that was, I'm not exactly sure.”
Ganguly was succeeded by Roger Binny as BCCI President in October last year and the former India captain joined DC as their director of cricket ahead of IPL 2023.
