Indian cricket supporters ripped into two-time World Cup winner Gautam Gambhir for “insulting” Virat Kohli during a Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) vs. Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) match in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Fans even compared the legacy of Gautam Gambhir with Virat Kohli's credentials with the bat. Moreover, others criticized the LSG mentor for charging at the RCB superstar.

A few cricket admirers argued that Gautam Gambhir needed mental therapy as he bullied and abused Virat Kohli, the man who is the pride of Karnataka.

For the unversed, Virat Kohli is the only player in the history of the IPL who has featured for a single franchise, that is RCB. Not even the legendary MS Dhoni has played for one IPL team during his career. Dhoni was part of the Pune side when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered a ban for two years for their involvement in spot-fixing.

 

On Monday, Virat Kohli was involved in a heated confrontation with LSG's Naveen-ul-Haq and had a go at Amit Mishra, leading to a tense face-off with Gautam Gambhir.

There were multiple fiery exchanges between players of the two sides during the latter stages of the match and after its completion, with Virat Kohli telling the Lucknow team's members: “If you can give it, you've got to take it back as well. Otherwise don't give it”.

The ugly row started during the concluding stages of LSG's run chase, in the 17th over of their essay, when a charged-up Virat Kohli had a long discussion with the on-field umpires.

A little later, the video of the ugly episode was broadcast on the big screen by Star Sports, the official broadcasters of the premier T20 tournament.

In the footage, the former RCB skipper could be seen saying something to Naveen-ul-Haq which resulted in the Afghan player charging towards him. The Delhi-born cricketer, however, was taking none of it as he immediately responded with a tirade of his own before showing his shoe to Naveen-ul-Haq. But it wasn't exactly clear what the former India captain said.

The nasty scenes during the game didn't stop there.

After players of the two teams shook hands, Gautam Gambhir charged at Virat Kohli, with the former looking visibly upset with the latter over an issue.

In the viral clip, the RCB superstar argued with the LSG mentor over something before KL Rahul and Vijay Dahiya intervened and separated Gautam Gambhir from Virat Kohli.

For the uninitiated, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli don't share the best of relationships with each other. The two fought with each during the 2013 IPL when Gautam Gambhir was the skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Since 2013, the relations between the two Delhi-born cricketers have remained frosty.

Last month, when RCB played LSG at their home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Gautam Gambhir broke into wild celebrations after his side overhauled a huge total to beat Virat Kohli's team in their own den.

It was followed by a tense handshake between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli before the LSG mentor took a dig at the home crowd by making a “keep quiet” gesture.

Gautam Gambhir's fellow opener and Team India colleague, Virender Sehwag, called the BCCI to take stringent action against Virat Kohli and the LSG mentor.

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He even asked the Indian cricket board to ban the two from participating in the remaining games of IPL 2023. He reckoned that this would instill fear in others, and they won't commit similar mistakes.

“I switched off the TV once the match got over. I had no idea about what happened after the match. The next day when I woke up, I saw a lot of chaos on social media. What happened wasn't right. The loser should quietly accept defeat and walk away and the winning team should celebrate. Why did they need to say anything to each other. I always say one thing, that these guys are icons of the country. If they do or say anything, millions of kids follow them and probably think ‘If my icon has done this, I would too'. So if they keep these things in mind, they would limit such incidents,” Virender Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.

“If the BCCI decides to ban anyone, then maybe such incidents will happen rarely or not take place at all. Such incidents have happened several times in the past so it's better to do whatever you want to inside the controlled environment of the dressing room. When you're on the ground, these things don't look nice. My own kids can lip-read and they very well understand Ben Stokes. So that is when I feel bad. If you're saying such things, if my kids can read it, others can too and tomorrow they will think that if they (Kohli and Gambhir) can say it, so can I,” Virender Sehwag summed up.

Meanwhile, India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar launched a scathing attack on Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir, saying he wished such incidents wouldn't happen on the field.

“Well, I saw the visuals only a while ago, I did not see the match live yesterday. These things never look good. What is a 100 percent match fee? What exactly is a 100 percent match fee? If it is Kohli, who is on maybe Rs 17 crore for RCB, which means Rs 17 crore for a possible 16 matches, including the semi-finals, and finals. So you are talking about a crore of rupees. Is he going to be fined Rs 1 crore and more? Well, that's a very, very stiff fine,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“I don't know what Gambhir's situation is. They should ensure that this is not repeated. You are hoping that this is not repeated because it's such a stiff fine, such a stiff punishment. You want to play it hard, play it competitively. During the time that we played, there was a bit of banter, but there was none of this aggression that we see now. A lot of it has got to do with the fact that everything is on TV too. Because of the fact that you are on TV, you tend to do maybe just that little bit extra,” he added.

On the other hand, Sunil Gavaskar's former Team India teammate Ravi Shastri said that Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir should have handled the situation better.

“I think the penny will drop in a day or two. And they will realize that this could have been handled a lot better. Both play for the same state and they have played enough cricket. Gautam is a double World Cup winner, and Virat is an icon. Both come from Delhi. I think the best thing would be to sit them both down and put an end to it. Once and for all,” Ravi Shastri said.

“Whoever does it, the sooner the better, because you don't want this to spill off. Carrying on, the next time they meet again there are words exchanged and one thing leads to another. The sooner the better. If I have to do it so be it,” Ravi Shastri pointed out.