The legendary Virender Sehwag received severe criticism on social media following his controversial remarks against Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir after their infamous verbal spat irked fans.
“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'. 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 told 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 added.
However, Virender Sehwag's remarks riled Indian cricket admirers, who reminded him that he had no right to speak about behaving in public and on the field when he was promoting a tobacco brand on television.
Some Virat Kohli supporters even labeled him a hypocrite as he had a different set of ideals for himself and others.
They stated that while Virender Sehwag spoke about how a cricketer's attitude and behavior impact young kids in the country, he was still promoting an unhealthy lifestyle through TV commercials.
Virender Sehwag on Cricbuzz (on the Kohli-Gambhir spat): "These are the icons of our country. If icons say or do something, lakhs of kids follow them. They think if my icon has done so, it must be right."
Also, @virendersehwag: pic.twitter.com/qyqWS0mgWl
— Zucker Doctor (@DoctorLFC) May 3, 2023
The word that excludes Sehwag from this is “icon”. Kohli is an icon…
— UN_EASH (@Uneash) May 3, 2023
@virendersehwag is soooo right: kids follow what their icons do. So why advertise for pan masala? https://t.co/0lUygDl80k
— Donald D'Souza (@donaldsvd) May 5, 2023
By this logic, Sehwag is definitely not an ‘Icon’
Shayad Bacche IPL nahi dekh rahe TV pe aur isliye Kamla Pasand ka ad dekh kar prabhavit nahi honge aur nahi Lagta ki yeh galat hai
Bhaad mein jaaye fans #IPL2023 #LSGvRCB https://t.co/MpO7kChNv0
— Varun Ramaswamy (@varunramaswamy) May 3, 2023
Meanwhile, days after his disgusting war of words with Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Gautam Gambhir made headlines across the world, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) talisman Virat Kohli reportedly wrote to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to explain his side of the story.
According to the report, Virat Kohli also highlighted his disappointment with the Indian cricket board for levying a heavy fine on him.
The 34-year-old reportedly pointed out that his conversations with Naveen-ul-Haq or Gautam Gambhir were not harsh, and his altercation with these players shouldn't have attracted such treatment from the BCCI.
Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir were fined 100 percent of their match fees by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for their highly publicized war of words.
“Lucknow Super Giants’ Mentor Gautam Gambhir has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Mr Gambhir admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct,” a statement from the Indian cricket board said.
“Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli has been fined 100 per cent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Mr Kohli admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct.”
“Lucknow Super Giants’ Bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has been fined 50 per cent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Mr Naveen-ul-Haq admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct,” the official release added.
The RCB superstar reportedly was miffed with Naveen ul-Haq's aggressive behavior and complained to BCCI about the same.
The 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, Virat Kohli could be seen saying something to Naveen-ul-Haq, resulting in the Afghan player charging him. The Delhi-born cricketer, however, was taking none of it as he immediately responded with his own tirade 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 den.
A tense handshake between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli followed before the LSG mentor asked the home crowd to “shut up”.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis defended Virat Kohli: “That’s the best version of Virat, isn’t it? That’s when he’s at his best. It’s awesome to be a part of it. My job is to keep things calm on the field, which I thought we did really well.”
“I guess after the last match here at the Chinnaswamy where we lost off the last ball, it always felt like we were desperate to get this one. I guess you probably saw a little bit of that boil over,” said Mike Hesson, RCB’s director of cricket operations.
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