Virat Kohli grabbed the headlines during Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) IPL 2023 clash against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium last Monday (May 1).
The RCB star first got involved in a verbal duel with LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq and then was seen having an animated chat with LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.
Things did look ugly in the middle and all the three involved were reprimanded by the match referee after the game. While Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100% of their match fees, Naveen copped 50% penalty for breaching the IPL code of conduct.
Nearly five days after the incident, Kohli wrote to a few BCCI officials explaining the situation, Dainik Jagran reported.
According to the report, the former RCB skipper also expressed his disappointment to the BCCI officials for being docked 100% match fees. Kohli reportedly said he did not say anything to Naveen or Gambhir during the spat that will attract such a penalty.
As per the players and officials who witnessed the heated altercations, Kohli was hostile with his treatment towards Naveen-ul-Haq and Kyle Mayers. Amit Mishra, who was batting with Naveen at the fag end of LSG’s innings, also complained to the umpires about Kohli's conduct.
The report claimed that RCB speedster Mohammed Siraj's bouncers and throws at Naveen left the Afghanistan pacer furious. In his message to the BCCI officials, Kohli said he did not instruct Siraj to hit Naveen but instead only told him to bowl bouncers.
The on-field aggression spilled over to the post-match handshakes as Kohli and Naveen had another heated exchange. Virat reportedly also complained about Naveen for his aggressive behaviour after the match.
As far as Kohli's altercation with Gambhir is concerned, it started after the former's interaction with Mayers. The LSG opener apparently confronted the RCB stalwart for "abusing" him and giving him a send-off. Kohli argued that Mayers was "staring" at him. It was at this point, Gambhir entered the scene and took Mayers away.
The report further stated that Gambhir and Kohli went in opposite directions but the latter said, "Bloody f***... I want to give him a send-off." He was probably referring to Mayers but all hell broke loose after that as Gambhir was seen approaching Virat aggressively with his players.
With the duo facing off, Kohli was seen trying to pacify Gambhir and reportedly said that he should “stay away” from the matter. However, the LSG mentor retorted by saying that his players are like “his family” and he won't tolerate if someone "abuses" them.
As the matter started to boil over, the two stars were separated by the players and support staff members of both sides.
(Dainik Jagran Inputs)
