The star batsman from Bengaluru, Virat Kohli, and Kolkata’s team mentor, Gautam Gambhir appeared to have resolved their previous spat from last season as they shook hands during their encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on March 29, 2024(Friday).
During the strategic time-out in the first innings, Gambhir and Kohli exchanged a friendly hug and shook hands. By that time, Kohli had scored his 52nd IPL half-century.
Our favourite strategic timeout ever 🫂#IPLonJioCinema #RCBvKKR #TATAIPL #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/A50VPhD6RI
— JioCinema (@JioCinema) March 29, 2024
In IPL 2023, Kohli and Gambhir had a heated argument during a match between Bengaluru and Lucknow, when Gaambhir was serving LSG as mentor. This wasn’t the first time they clashed on the field. In 2013, when Gambhir was leading Kolkata and Kohli was leading Bengaluru, they had another intense argument and even pushed each other before their teammates came for a settlement.
Their rivalry flared up again in 2023 when Kohli had a heated argument with Afghanistan bowler Naveen-ul-Haq, who was in the Lucknow team. After the game, Gambhir told his players not to talk to Kohli and even went towards him angrily where the LSG player had to come to the rescue.
“It is not about Naveen-ul-Haq. I would have defended any player, that is my job, that is how I am. Why should I not defend my players just because someone has a broadcaster working for him, left right, and center, someone who has more social media presence doesn’t have any right to walk over someone,” Gambhir said in 2023.