Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir’s entanglement has proved costly. They have been punished for fighting with each other. Even though the fight between the two did not reach the extent of a scuffle, what happened, no matter how big a player is in cricket or any other game, is not considered good. This is directly against the rules of cricket.
The BCCI has now taken action in the post-match brawl between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow. One hundred percent match fees of both veterans have been deducted. Not only this, even Afghanistan bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has not been spared. He will have to pay compensation in the form of a 50 percent match fee for his mistake. Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants in this low-scoring match by 18 runs.
“Lucknow Super Giants’ mentor Gautam Gambhir has been fined 100 percent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Mr. Gambhir admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct,” an IPL media release stated.
“Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli has been fined 100 percent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Mr. Kohli admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct,” the release added.
“Lucknow Super Giants’ Bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has been fined 50 percent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Mr. Naveen-ul-Haq admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct,” the statement added.
The controversy started during the post-match tradition of shaking hands between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq. The Afghanistan bowler had said something to Virat, which turned into a fight. At that time, the matter became calm. After some time, Lucknow Super Giants opener Kyle Mayers was seen walking with Virat. When the dispute between Virat and Mayers increased, Gautam Gambhir reached there. He took his batter from there, holding his hand. Later, Virat and Gambhir were seen fighting with each other.
This is the third punishment received by Virat Kohli this season, which is bigger than his last two mistakes. Earlier in IPL 2023, he was fined twice for slow over rate when he was captaining RCB in place of Faf du Plessis. But this time, the punishment has been given because of the on-field fight with LSG players.
This is not the first time that Virat and Gambhir have indulged in such kind of on-field dispute. They had earlier clashed in the 2013 IPL as well. The only difference is that Gambhir was the captain of KKR then and is now a mentor. Whereas Virat Kohli was associated with RCB even then and still is.
