Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Gautam Gambhir were involved in a verbal spat after their IPL 2023 clash at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday (May 1).

Both Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100 per cent of their match fees for breaching Article 2.21 of the IPL’s code of conduct.

After the high-voltage encounter, Virat also took a potshot at Gambhir in an RCB dressing room video.

“If you can give it, you got to take it. Otherwise don’t give it,” the RCB star can be heard saying in the dressing room video shared by his franchise on social media accounts.

The dig was an apparent reference to Gambhir’s crowd-silencing gesture after LSG’s nail-biting one-wicket win over RCB at Chinnaswamy Stadium earlier in the IPL 2023 season.

On Monday, Kohli was in the mood of giving it back to his opponent as he was at his animated best. After taking Krunal Pandya's catch on the boundary line, the former RCB skipper was spotted doing the finger on the lip celebration before blowing flying kisses to the crowd.

During the chase, Kohli also engaged in a war of words with LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq. The on-field aggression then spilled over to the post-match handshakes as Kohli and Naveen had another heated exchange.

All hell broke loose after that as Gambhir was seen approaching Kohli aggressively with his players. With the duo facing off, Kohli was seen trying to pacify Gambhir but rather than cooling off, the matter started to boil over before the two Delhiites were separated by the players and support staff members of both sides.

Speaking in the video, Virat Kohli further said that it was a really important win for RCB.

“It is a really important win on the road for us. The fact that we got more support than the home team was a really unbelievable feeling. It tells you all about how much we are liked as a team and how much the fans like us,” Kohli said.

“It is a really sweet win. It feels great for many reason but above all of them the character we showed to defend a small total, it was really special,” he added.