India talisman Virat Kohli's supporters ripped into his former national teammate Gautam Gambhir amid his escalating ugly spat with 2007 T20 World Cup winner S Sreesanth.
Some Virat Kohli fans called Gautam Gambhir sick, while others labeled him insecure for his habit of getting involved in fights with his fellow cricketers.
A few dubbed him arrogant, selfish, and jealous for continuously criticizing Virat Kohli despite his stupendous record for Team India.
Gautam Gambhir's targeting by Virat Kohli's admirers came after the southpaw began trending on X following his feud with S Sreesanth.
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During a Legends League Cricket clash in Surat on Wednesday, S Sreesanth and Gautam Gambhir were engaged in a bitter exchange. Videos showed the two even charged at each other before the umpires intervened to control the situation.
In video footage making the rounds on X, the former India teammates looked visibly upset before giving a long stare to one another after the Delhi-born cricketer smashed S Sreesanth for boundaries and sixes in an over.
Later, in a video posted on his Instagram page, S Sreesanth revealed that Gautam Gambhir called him a fixer.
“I have not used a single bad word or used a single abusive word to him. I only said, “What are you saying? What are you saying?” In fact, I kept laughing in a sarcastic way because he kept calling me “Fixer, fixer, you are a fixer, F*** off fixer”. This is the language that was used.” Sreesanth said in an Instagram post. “When they were trying to control him, he kept on calling me fixer,” the former India fast bowler said.
In a previous social media post, S Sreesanth claimed he was not responsible for the spat.
“I am not at all at fault here. I just wanted to clear the air straight away. What Mr Gauti has done, sooner or later all of you will get to know. The words which he used and the things he said on a cricket field, live, is not acceptable. My family, my state, everybody has gone through so much. I fought that battle with all your support. Now people want to down me for no reason. Even when my team is doing well, he said things he shouldn't have said. I will surely let you know what he said,” he noted.
“What's the point of representing people if you don't respect your own colleagues? Even in live broadcasting when he is asked about Virat, he never speaks about him, he speaks about something else. I don't want to go further in detail. Just want to say I am very hurt and my family is hurt and my dear ones are hurt. And the way he said things…. Just want to I haven't used a single bad word or a single abuse, nothing. He just kept on saying words which he always does,” he added.
After S Sreesanth's revelations, his wife, Bhuvneshwari Sreesanth, also had some harsh words for Gautam Gambhir.
“It is so shocking to hear from Sree that a player who has played for India with him for many years can stoop to this level. Even after so many years of retirement from Active cricket. After all upbringing matters a lot and it shows up when these kind of behaviour comes up on ground. Shocking truly shocking,” Bhuvneshwari Sreesanth wrote on Instagram.
Despite S Sreesanth's shocking allegations, Gautam Gambhir was yet to address his accusations.
However, the current parliamentarian from East Delhi did make a cryptic post on Twitter, which eventually went viral on the microblogging platform.
“Smile when the world is all about attention!” he wrote on the popular messaging app.
Gautam Gambhir's tweet left S Sreesanth fuming, who fired back at him in strong words.
“You have exceeded the boundaries of a sportsman and a brother, and above all, you represent the people. Yet, you continue to engage in conflicts with every cricketer. What is the matter with you? All I did was smile and observe, and you labeled me a fixer? Seriously? Are you above the Supreme Court? You have no authority to speak in such a manner and say whatever you please,” S Sreesanth wrote in his reply to Gautam Gambhir's Twitter post.
“You even verbally abused the umpires, and yet you speak of smiling? You are an arrogant and utterly classless individual who lacks any form of respect for those who supported you. Until yesterday, I always held respect for you and your family. However, you used the derogatory term ‘fixer' not just once, but seven or eight times. You even resorted to using the F-word towards the umpires and myself, persistently trying to provoke me,” the 2007 T20 World Cup winner continued.
“Anyone who has experienced what I have endured would never forgive you. Deep down, you know that what you said and did was wrong. I'm sure even God won't forgive you. You didn't even come to the field after that. Come on, God is watching everything,” S Sreesanth expressed.
Interestingly, this isn't the first time Gautam Gambhir's attitude has created a stir on social media.
More often than not, Virat Kohli's fans have accused him of bias against the former India captain. They claim he repeatedly criticizes Virat Kohli despite his excellent performances for the national team.
For instance, Gautam Gambhir criticized Virat Kohli for his batting approach during his record-equalling 49th ODI ton against South Africa in last month's Cricket World Cup.
“It was important for Kohli to bat deep and I feel it was at the end, just the last 5-6 overs where he slowed down a bit, maybe because he was nearing a century. But I believe there were already enough runs on the board. It could have hurt India if they were batting on a good pitch,” Gautam Gambhir said at the time.
Meanwhile, Legends League Cricket (LLC), the tournament where the altercation between the two cricketers started, announced that it would conduct an internal inquiry into the incident.
“Legends League Cricket strives to uphold the spirit of cricket and sportsmanship and will conduct an internal investigation on the violation of the code of conduct. Any misconduct that has occurred both on and off the field including on social media platforms will be dealt with strictly,” former India wicket-keeper Syed Kirmani, who is the head of the code of conduct & ethics for the LLC said in a statement.
“The code of conduct has clearly stated that necessary action will be taken against players that bring disrepute to the league, the spirit of the game and the teams that they are representing,” Syed Kirmani concluded.