Sourav Ganguly’s ultimate act of respect for Virat Kohli during RCB vs DC a year after ‘no-handshake’ incident

A year back, during the IPL 2023 face-off between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (then Royal Challengers Bangalore) and Delhi Capitals at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly’s act during the match indicated that all was not well between the two.

Later, the two even reportedly unfollowed each other on Instagram. However, on Sunday, at the very same venue, Ganguly paid his ultimate respect to the former RCB star after the home team’s 47-run win against DC.

The rift between Kohli and Ganguly was no secret. In 2021, a month after stepping down from T20I leadership, Kohli was removed from ODI captaincy. This decision sparked a war of words between him and the BCCI administration, then under the leadership of Ganguly. The senior India batter later relinquished his Test captaincy role in January 2022, marking a significant shift in the dynamics between the two.

A year later, during IPL 2023, Kohli threw a death stare at DC’s director of cricket, Ganguly, when he walked past him during the match between RCB and DC. The former India opener later skipped the queue to avoid a handshake with the RC batter after the match ended.

However, in the reverse fixture in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium later in the tournament, Kohli and Ganguly decided to bury the hatchet with a post-match handshake.

A year later, the equation between the two remained the same as Ganguly paid an ultimate respect to Kohli after RCB’s emphatic win at home against DC. As the players and the support staff members of the two sides assembled for the post-match handshake ritual, Ganguly removed his cap before meeting Kohli and even congratulated him as the latter responded with a ‘Thank you’ and a smile. The former India captain later put his cap on when meeting the rest of the RCB players.

The win against DC was RCB’s fifth straight victory in the ongoing IPL 2024 tournament which saw them move to the fifth position in the points table and stay alive for the race to the playoffs. Delhi, who were without Rishabh Pant for the match owing to being suspended by the BCCI for breaching IPL Code of Conduct, slipped to the sixth spot.