‘Unacceptable. May have been personal’: Kumble steamrolls Kohli, Gambhir in aftermath of on-field scuffle in IPL 2023

History has a tendency to repeat itself. Once teammates for India, World Cup-winners Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli reignited their age-old Indian Premier League (IPL) rivalry to overshadow Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) impressive win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) on Monday.

Legendary cricketer Anil Kumble, who shared the Indian locker room with both icons of the game, has expressed his disappointment in the wake of the ugly face-off between Kohli and Gambhir at the IPL 2023.

More than 10 years after their first public altercation in the IPL, Kohli and Gambhir ended up scripting another unfortunate chapter to their heated cricket rivalry in match No.43 of the ongoing tournament at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium. Kohli and Gambhir were seen having sharp words on the field after RCB’s match against LSG at Lucknow.

Reflecting on the Kohli versus Gambhir saga in the IPL, former India skipper Kumble opined that it was unacceptable to see the celebrated cricketers having a go at each other after the high-voltage clash. “A lot of emotion goes in but you don’t want to be displaying those emotions here. This is important, you need to have a conversation. But this is something that’s unacceptable,” Kumble said on JioCinema.

“No matter what, you have to respect the opposition and the game. Once a game is over, you have to shake hands and tip your hat off, not to the player but to the game because that’s something you need to respect… I don’t know what was spoken, some things may have been personal and you don’t want that on the cricket field. But with Gautam and Virat and the players involved, it wasn’t the nicest thing to see,” he added.

Kohli and Gambhir have been fined heavily by the IPL in the aftermath of the ugly face-off at Lucknow. An animated Kohli also had heated arguments with LSG stars Kyle Mayers and Naveen-ul-Haq. LSG bowler Naveen was fined 50 per cent of his match fee after his verbal spat with Kohli. The former RCB skipper is fined 100 per cent of his match fee for breaching Article 2.21 of the IPL code of conduct.

Talking about the match, Faf du Plessis and Co. successfully defended a paltry total of 126 on a sluggish Lucknow pitch to outclass the hosts by 18 runs. Mighty impressed with the bowling performance of the RCB side, former Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa also admitted that he is not a fan of Kohli’s animated celebrations. The RCB skipper made noteworthy gestures towards the crowd after taking crucial catches of Krunal Pandya and Ayush Badoni.“I am a big fan of Virat Kohli but not of his celebrations,” Uthappa added.