Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Gautam Gambhir were involved in a heated exchange after an IPL match earlier this month.
Following the game, Gambhir was seen approaching Kohli aggressively with his players and the two had an animated chat. Before the matter could have gone out of hand, the two stars were separated by the players and support staff members of both sides.
The altercation created quite a stir in the cricket fraternity and it continues to draw attention even after 10 days.
While many former cricketers have slammed Kohli and Gambhir for their verbal spat, former England spinner Graeme Swann feels such incidents are great for the IPL.
"Having playing cricket throughout my life, sometime emotions do boil over on the field. You know what, it's good for the league if they do. You should never try and dilute the players so much, that they don't wear their hearts on their sleeves. One of the reasons why Virat Kohli is Virat Kohli is because he is so passionate about his cricket. He is so in your face that it intimidates a lot of players. And yet, there will be some players who will think that it goes too far. Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli will always have their thing going. They are massive personalities, who grew up playing together. So, Gautam is never going to back down to Virat. That made me laugh. I thought it was brilliant," Swann told NDTV in an exclusive chat.
"It's good show the passion. It's good that Fast bowlers are bowling and then staring at batsmen. It's also good if the fast bowler get the batsmen out and waves him goodbye. I have no issue with that. As long as after the game there is handshake and there is no bad image getting carried on screen. Then I am all for passion on the field. Trust me having played Ashes all my life, this is nothing compared to them."
Swann also disagreed with the cricket experts claiming that the Kohli-Gambhir spat has taken sheen off the IPL.
"Not at all. I think it's fine. They shook hands after the game. they are grown men. Let's face it if there was not conflict, it would be dull. I watched kabaddi and they fallout with each other all the time. And it's brilliant," Swann opined.
