The Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants in a low-scoring game in the IPL on Monday. But what made news was the post match conversation between the RCB star and LSG mentor.
The BCCI citing breaching of the IPL Code of Conduct has fined the trio Gambhir, Kohli and Naveen ul Haq. Kohli, Gambhir were fined 100% of their match fees after they were found guilty of a Level 2 offence while Naveen-ul-Haq lost 50% of his match fees for his Level 1 offence. Gambhir, Kohli and Naveen admitted to their respective offences and accepted the sanctions.
“Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants. Kohli admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct,” IPL said in a release late on Monday night.
The scenes of a heated exchange reminded of their face-off 10 years ago, when Gambhir was also an active player, leading the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The incident on Monday took place at the 17th over when some words were seemingly exchanged between Naveen Ul Haq and Kohli. At this point, Gambhir stepped in to control things, but it soon turned into a Kohli vs Gambhir affair when the latter charged back at the ex-RCB captain.
The altercation is speculated to have aroused due to Kohli’ animated behaiviour. Soon staff and other team mates intervened as the duo made it to touching distance.It appeared to be a direct response to LSG’s mentor Gambhir’s over-the-top celebrations after they beat RCB in the first leg earlier in the season. The RCB stalwart was seen screaming, fist-pumping and even putting a finger on his lips and then asking the crowd not to keep quiet. It was a reply to Gambhir’s ‘shushing’ gesture after the last-ball thriller in Bangalore.
The last time when the two teams clashed in Bengaluru in an IPL 2023 game, Gambhir had gestured towards the Bengaluru crowd with a ‘shut up’ sign. It is not clear whether Virat was reacting to that. But after the match ended, the two shook hands and things looked perfectly normal.
Batting first the Kohli led side scored 126/9 on a difficult surface and then managed to restrict LSG at 108 en route their 18 runs victory. It was the second time in the season, the Lucknow batting order was completely exposed as they failed to chase down a below-par 127-run target of a slow turner at the Ekana Cricket Stadium.
In the absence of Rahul, who suffered a right thigh muscle injury while fielding, the top order batters made atrocious shot selection. Tottering at 27 for four and then 65 for six in the 11th over the fate of the match was sealed just after the halfway mark in the chase but Lucknow managed to delay the inevitable till the final over