New Delhi: Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir indulged in an ugly feud during the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants. The feud led to both Virat and Gambhir being fined their 100 percent match fee. According to a report by Dainik Jagran, the RCB batter wrote to BCCI and protested against the fine imposed on him.
As per the report, Kohli stated that he did not say anything to Naveen ul-Haq or to Gautam Gambhir that should attract the fine. He added that he did not instruct Mohammed Siraj to hit Naveen, rather he just asked him to bowl bouncers.
Siraj was seen in an aggressive mode when he bowled bouncers to the Afghan batter and hit him with the ball. A video of him removing the bails unnecessarily also went viral on the internet. The aggression on the field was also exchanged between Virat and Naveen which actually led to the beginning of the dispute.
After the game, when Kohli was having a chat with LSG batter Kyle Mayers, coach Gambhir pulled him away. What followed was a verbal exchange between Kohli and Gambhir and Amit Mishra and others had to intervene to stop them.
The incident was criticised across the cricket fraternity as the two stalwarts of the “gentlemen’s game” let them down. Umpires classified it as a Level 2 offense and both of them were fined for their on-field behaviour.
In the game, RCB beat LSG by defending 126 runs as their batting collapsed. LSG captain KL Rahul got injured during the game and has been ruled out of the remainder of the season and the WTC final.
