What transpired on Monday, during and after the Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Bangalore was not ideal on a cricket field by any means.
After the match, Kohli, Gambhir and Naveen were all found of breaching IPL’s Code of Conduct. BCCI docked full match fees of Kohli and Gambhir for their Level 2 offence while Naveen got away with a 50% fine for his Level 1 breach.
Heated exchanges, aggressive celebrations, sledging, post-match face-offs, players refusing to shake hands or doing it with an intensity to show aggression, the match had everything. Cricket to a backseat. The central characters were RCB’s Virat Kohli, LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq and mentor Gautam Gambhir. LSG captain KL Rahul, spinner Amit Mishra and RCB all-rounder Glenn Maxwell were the peacemakers, or at least they tried to be.
In reply to LSG mentor Gambhir’s ‘finger on lips’ act after their last-ball win in their previous encounter in IPL 2023, Kohli brought out his aggressive best in the re-match. He screamed for every LSG wicket, showed multiple gestures, and even asked the Lucknow crowd not to put a finger on their lips and scream in an indirect jibe at Gambhir.
There was no retaliation from the LSG camp till the 17th over when something brewed between Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq. The Afghanistan pacer appeared to have reacted to something Kohli said. The former RCB captain was in no mood to back away. He launched a verbal attack on the LSG pacer. Non-striker Amit Mishra and the on-field umpires tried to calm Kohli down but they were unable to. He continued his verbal fury and even pointed at his shoes. Naveen did not escalate matters at that point in time but when the teams lined up for handshakes, he aggressively brushed off Kohli’s hands as the two once again got involved in a verbal spat only to be repeated by Glenn Maxwell.
Gambhir, the LSG mentor, saw all this unfold and charged towards Kohli after the handshake session. The ugly scenes continued for good 10-15 seconds before LSG players including Rahul and Amit Mishra intervened.
Kohli and Gambhir walked away. But the drama continued.
Rahul, who was injured while fielding earlier, was seen having a word with Kohli with the latter trying to explain what exactly transpired. The LSG captain then tried to broker peace by calling his teammate Naveen-ul-Haq. To everyone’s surprise, Naveen gestured with his hands to convey that he was in no mood to have a word with Kohli. The RCB star, understandably did not like this and mouthed some more words. A bemused-looking Rahul kept looking at Naveen even as the right-arm seamer walked away sipping from his bottle.
