In the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir faced each other once more, resulting in a heated exchange that required intervention from players of both Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). This was the second time the two sides met in the IPL 2023 season, with the previous game ending in a tense last-ball finish and unnecessary behavior from LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.
The RCB and LSG game was anticipated to be a high-intensity match, but it exceeded expectations by becoming an incredibly tense affair. Kohli had a clash with Naveen-ul-Haq, a pacer from LSG side, during the 17th over of Lucknow’s innings. Additionally, Kohli was seen having an animated exchange with Amit Mishra.
Following RCB’s victory by 18 runs, where they successfully defended the lowest total in IPL 2023 so far, Kohli and Naveen had another confrontation while shaking hands. Shortly after, Kohli and Gautam Gambhir came face to face once more.
As the tension continued to escalate, former Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh, who had previously been involved in one of the most notorious IPL controversies, called on Kohli and Gambhir to put their differences aside and reconcile with each other.
During a segment on his YouTube channel, Harbhajan spoke about his own experience with a similar incident that occurred between him and Sreesanth in 2008. He expressed remorse over the incident and said that even after 15 years, he still feels ashamed when he thinks about it. He emphasized that such gestures are not acceptable, and although he had initially felt justified in his actions, he now recognizes that what he did was wrong.
“As someone who has lived through something like this myself. It was something similar that happened between me and Sreesanth back in 2008. Today, 15 years later, I still feel ashamed thinking about it because all these gestures are not. At the time I felt what has happened as happened, I was right. But no, what I did was wrong,” said the veteran Indian spinner.