The Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) match of the IPL 2023 which was played at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on May 1 proved to be quite a spectacle thanks to fiery clashes between RCB’s Virat Kohli and LSG’s Gautam Gambhir and Naveen Ul Haq.
Monday night’s drama seemed an extension of what happened during the RCB-LSG clash at Bengaluru a fortnight ago when Gambhir was seen shushing the crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium after his team’s thrilling one-wicket win against the hosts.
RCB avenged that loss in style as they successfully defended 126 runs at LSG’s home ground and restricted them to 108 to win by 18 runs. Faf du Plessis with 44 and Virat Kohli with 31 top-scored for RCB, while josh Hazlewood and Karn Sharma took two wickets each.
The spark seemed to have been lit in the 17th over of LSG’s chase when Kohli and Naveen-Ul-Haq exchanged a few words, after Kohli had argued with Amit Mishra and the umpire had to intervene to calm things down.
Kohli then showed his shoe to Naveen in an animated gesture. After the game, the Kohli-Naveen-ul-Haq exchange saw RCB’s Glenn Maxwell step in to restrain the LSG bowler. Then followed a brief chat between Kohli and LSG opener Kyle Mayers when Gambhir came across to take the Caribbean batter away.
Post this, Kohli and Gambhir faced off as the former RCB skipper explained something to the LSG mentor. Many players including LSG captain KL Rahul stepped in to keep the two apart.
Kohli later explained the situation to KL Rahul and Gambhir later said there was no personal rivalry between the two.
“It was simply an ego clash between the two greats of Indian cricket. There was nothing serious. It was just a heat-of-the-moment thing. It happens in such a high-tension game. There was no bad blood after the presentation.
The LSG bosses did hold a meeting of the players and officials at the ground after the match,” said an LSG official to Hindustan Times.
LSG will next take on CSK on May 3 in Lucknow, while RCB will face DC in Delhi on May 6
