Gautam Gambhir found himself in a fresh controversy when a video clip went viral on social media in which he was caught flipping the bird to the crowd, who were supposedly chanting ‘Kohli, Kohli’ during the Asia Cup 2023 match between India and Nepal in Kandy, on September 4.
In the video, Gambhir was seen walking off the ground, there were audible chants of Virat Kohli's name from a distant stand. The video capturing the incident showed a seemingly agitated Gambhir making a gesture that caused quite a stir online.
The clip went viral very quickly with netizens taking grave offence to his gesture, especially as the video featured chants about Virat Kohli.
However, Gambhir himself cleared the air by saying that the section of the crowd in question consisted predominantly of Pakistani fans. These fans were allegedly not only chanting pro-Kohli slogans but were also raising anti-India chants and making remarks on Kashmir.
“The crowd that was made up of Pakistani fans were shouting anti-India slogans were also passing comments on Kashmir. As an Indian I can’t take anyone saying this about my country hence reacted this way. What you see on social media isn’t always the correct picture,” Gambhir told reporters.
Some eagle-eyed fans on social media have further dissected the viral video clip and made startling revelations. Multiple users on social media platform X shared photos of Gautam Gambhir wearing a black shirt for today’s match between India and Nepal, while in the viral video, he was wearing a light-colored shirt.
The same light-colored shirt was seen during the India vs. Pakistan encounter two days back when Gambhir was seen doing commentary in the match.
Apart from this, another fan shared the original audio of the ‘Kohli,Kohli’ chants heard in the Gambhir middle-finger clip and revealed that that audio is actually from an IPL 2023 match when some crowd in Lucknow had heckled Gambhir by shouting the RCB legend’s name.
The user further added that the viral video of Gambhir showing the indecent gesture is probably a manipulated video in which audio from the IPL match and video from the India vs. Pakistan match were mixed together to make the former India opener look bad.
Finally, the former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir shared a message for fans on social media about the incident, saying not everything is as it seems. He said that he loves the Indian team players and the country and reacted to how every Indian would do on hearing slogans against the nation.
He posted: “A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes”. Not everything is as it seems. Any Indian would react how I did to the kind of slogans used against our nation. I love our players & I love my country.”
