The talks around the recent verbal scuffle between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir don't seem to end anytime soon. Meanwhile, India's spin legend Harbhajan Singh has once again opened up the Kohli versus Gambhir debate but this time he has vowed to bury the hatchet between the fiery duo which was reignited couple of days back when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) locked horns with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG).
It all began when Gambhir gave Kohli a cold handshake and silenced the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium when these two teams last met in the cash-rich tournament earlier in the season. After LSG prevailed in a thrilling game, Gambhir was absolutely pumped and he let his emotions out. While Kohli didn't react to his former India teammate's actions at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, the former RCB captain donned the hat of an aggressor on May 1 (Monday).
Throughout the game, Kohli was at his usual self and tried to get the crowd involved. Kohli was animated when a wicket fell, when a player misfielded or even when Wanindu Hasaranga got hit for a six. The former RCB captain even tried to imitate Gambhir's silencing gesture after completing a catch at the boundary. The situation started to get out of hand when tension brewed between Kohli and LSG batter Naveen-ul-Haq. Amit Mishra, who was the other LSG batter tried to calm Kohli down but the RCB leader was having none of it. Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq then exchanged a death stare which was caught on camera.
Meanwhile, Harbhajan, who has played with both Kohli and Gambhir as the troika were part of India's World Cup 2011 squad, has promised to put an end to this 10-year-old rivalry between Kohli and Gambhir after the glitzy league concludes.
"Everywhere people are talking about the incident. Who said what and to whom. This is my promise and I will always try to make these players hug each other and end the fight. There was so much talk around the verbal spat between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir, it is everywhere. We should now move on and the IPL is a huge tournament and these cricketers have played a lot of cricket together. And whatever animosity is there between the two (even if it is just a bit), I will request them to let go of it but after the IPL," Harbhajan said on his Youtube channel.
Watch the video here…
“The whole mood around the game was spoiled because of this brawl. I’m a player who’s lived through something similar. In 2008, a similar incident had happened between Sreesanth and me. 15 years later, I’m still embarrassed because of it. Back then I’d think, ‘Whatever happened,. it’s alright. Whatever I’ve done is okay.’ But I was wrong. What I did was wrong,” Harbhajan concluded.
The troika who was involved in the scuffle bore brunt and were slapped with hefty fines. Under Article 2.21 of IPL’s Code of Conduct, Kohli (Rs. 1.07 Crore), and Gambhir (Rs. 25 lakhs) were been fined 100 per cent of their match fee as a Level 2 violation. Meanwhile, Naveen was fined with 50 per cent of the match fee under Level 1 code violation.
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