The next thing that fans witnessed was Kohli and Gambhir’s former Delhi teammate Rajat Bhatia separating the two Team India cricketers. Kohli appeared to be charging at Gambhir in reply to something that was uttered after his dismissal.
Former international umpire Anil Chaudhary recalled the incident on JioStar’s ‘Cheeky Singles’ show. Chaudhary revealed that something could happen because ‘North India cricketer play with aggression’.
“I knew something like that would happen because all of them from the North play with aggression. I have played local cricket too, and our players have always played like this. If they don’t play with that aggression, their performances won’t come out as well. The flavour of the game won’t be there if you put too many restrictions on the players. But there’s a limit, and it shouldn’t be crossed,” Chaudhary was quoted as saying by JioStar.
The former India umpire revealed that he knows Virat Kohli since his childhood days and believes that the RCB batter doesn’t have any ‘malice’ in him.
“Actually, my advantage with Virat was that I had officiated his matches since childhood, so I have known him for a long time. He doesn’t have any malice. He reacts aggressively sometimes, but if you’re right, he’ll give you a thumbs up too. Between overs, he’ll come over and put a hand around your waist. But he is lively throughout. Players like him should be there, otherwise, the game will get boring,” Chaudhary said about Kohli.
Kohli and Gambhir once again came face-to-face against each other in IPL 2023 – 10 years after their first brawl. The two former India cricketers were involved in a major altercation after RCB’s win over Lucknow Super Giants when Kohli refused to shake hands with LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq.
On the same show, former India opener Aakash Chopra recalled a hilarious interaction between Virender Sehwag and former umpire Steve Bucknor on India’s tour of Australia.
“Whatever Sachin Tendulkar wanted to say, Viru (Virender Sehwag) would pass on as messages. He was standing next to Steve at square leg and asked, ‘Steve, how old are you?’ Steve said, ’52’ or ’53’, whatever it was. Viru then said, ‘Steve, you can’t hear, you can’t see, you should retire’. So, I asked Viru, ‘Are you mad? He’ll give you out!’ He replied, ‘He’s giving Tendulkar wrong decisions anyway. If he’s going to keep giving wrong decisions, what’s the difference? At least let me speak my mind!'” Chopra told JioStar.