The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has maintained a stoic silence after Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir had to be separated from each other following an ugly spat in Lucknow on Monday.
The incident took place after the Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs. The IPL imposed a fine of 100 per cent match fee on both for breaching the league’s Code of Conduct.
The fine is being seen as an eyewash since the players are contracted to their franchises and no match fee is involved. Kohli was retained by RCB for Rs 15 crore last season. Mentor Gambhir’s contract value hasn’t been made public by the Super Giants. The media release isn’t clear if match fee is linked to contract value.
Such ugly fracas in any other sport would have invited strong censures, including suspensions, but the BCCI chose not to take such stringent measures. There was no statement from the BCCI brass or IPL chairman Arun Singh Dhumal condemning the act.
No wonder the circumstances has portrayed the Board’s image in a sorry state. Acts of indiscipline will only tarnish the image of the IPL and the Board has remained a mute spectator to such deplorable deeds. Former India captain Anil Kumble, commentating on JioCinema, termed their behaviour as “unacceptable”.
In an Instagram Story on Tuesday, Kohli said: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth”.
Super Giants’ Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has also been fined 50 per cent of his match fee. Words were exchanged between Naveen and Kohli while the players were shaking hands after the match. The two had been involved in a heated exchange during the 17th over of the chase, a fallout of Kohli’s sledging. Several batters are believed to have been sworn at and abused by Kohli.
Minutes later, Gambhir was seen pulling away Super Giants’ Kyle Mayers who was “amicably” trying to sort it out with Kohli.
Gambhir and Kohli then charged at each other aggressively with several players, including the injured Super Giants captain KL Rahul, restraining them. At one point, Kohli seemed to be trying to pacify Gambhir but it soon turned hostile with Amit Mishra stepping in to separate them.
This is not the first time that the two have got involved in a heated exchange. In 2013, Kohli and Gambhir, then captains at RCB and KKR, respectively, had an altercation during their match in Bangalore.
Monday’s encounter had a striking resemblance to a grudge match after the Super Giants secured a last-ball, one-wicket victory in Bangalore last month. Gambhir had been seen shushing the Chinnaswamy crowd after that victory, a gesture which Kohli repeated after taking a catch to dismiss Krunal Pandya on Monday.
“That’s a sweet win boys. A sweet win. If you can give it, you got to take it. Otherwise don’t give it,” Kohli said in a RCB video. “It was a really important win for us. The fact that we got more support from the home crowd is an unbelievable feeling.”
RCB captain Faf du Plessis said: “That’s the best version of Virat, isn’t it? That’s when he’s at his best. It’s really awesome to be a part of it. My job is to keep things calm on the field, which I thought we did really well.”
Harbhajan Singh, recounting his brawl with Sreesanth in IPL 2008, said he was “still embarrassed because of it”.
