When the entire cricketing world is condemning the recent verbal altercation between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir during an IPL match 10 days before, former England's star spinner Graeme Swann has a different perspective to the fiery duo's feud.
The recent verbal scuffle between Kohli and Gambhir took place in an IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on May 1. 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. It didn't stop there as moments after Kohli and Gambhir had a heated exchange which revived their 10-year-old rivalry. Both of them were found guilty of IPL Code of Conduct and were docked their full match fees. Another LSG cricketer, Naveen-ul-Haq, who too was involved in a brawl with Kohli, was slapped with a 50% fine.
While commenting on Kohli-Gambhir's rivalry, Swann said that cricket ‘would be dull' if there were no on-field ‘conflicts’. However, Swann advised that Kohli and Gambhir should move on and be respectful off the field.
“You should never try to dilute the players so much that they do not wear their hearts on their sleeves. One of the reasons Virat Kohli is 'Virat Kohli' is because he's so passionate about his cricket. He's so in your face when he's playing and he intimidates a lot of players. Some may think he's going too far. They are massive personalities, who grew up and played together,” Swann said.
He also went on to say that Gambhir will never back down to Virat.
"Gautam is never going to back down to Virat. If it spills over off the field and there's swearing stuff then that's wrong. As long as there are handshakes after the game and has not created a bad image on the screen, then I'm all for their passion," Swann added.
"Let's face it, if there was never any conflict in sport, it would be so dull. Having played Ashes test series throughout my life, this is nothing compared to that," he concluded.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
‘Rohit should take a break before WTC final..’: Former West Indies' star batter amid Hitman's continuous struggle with bat
'Are they aliens from another world who have security problems?': Former Pakistan pacer lashes out at BCCI for Asia Cup fiasco
