IPL 2013 | Kohli and Gambhir involved in an ugly on-field fight

The rival captains of Kolkata Knight Riders, Gautam Gambhir and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Virat Kohli were involved in an ugly on-field fight after the Kohli was dismissed in the 10th over of the innings during IPL 2013 encounter at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. However, RCB won by 8 wickets. The incident happened after the first delivery of the 10th over bowled by Lakshmipathy Balaji. Kohli, who had hit Pradeep Sangwan for two sixes, went for a wild slash but was caught in the sweeper cover region. The fight between the two Indian teammates flared when Kohli was dismissed during Bangalore's run-chase. Kohli and Chris Gayle were in command during their run-chase of 155 and the game seemed to be slipping out of Kolkata's hands. On 35, Kohli holed out to the deep in the 10th over and was about to leave for the pavilion. However, he stopped in his tracks and was visibly angry as it looked like something was being said by the opposition. As Gambhir and other players walked towards cover region to celebrate the dismissal, Kohli instead of trudging back to the pavilion walked towards short extra cover and apparently made a remark. Suddenly, Gambhir was seen walking angrily towards his junior India teammate. However it was another Delhi lad Rajat Bhatia, who got in between them and tried to calm Gambhir down. In an instance, Gambhir and Kohli were storming towards each other to everybody's surprise. Rajat Bhatia, the Kolkata all-rounder, intervened to avoid fisticuffs between the duo. Even the umpire entered the picture to see to it that matters do not get out of hand. It was an incident that took everyone by surprise as Gambhir and Kohli have been not only played together as teammates at the international level but also for their state side Delhi, North Zone and same office side ONGC. The umpire was forced to intervene and it was another Delhi lad Rajat Bhatia, who got in between them and tried to calm Gambhir down. Interestingly, both are potential candidates to lead Team India in the future. However, at the end of the game, they exchanged hand-shakes and smiles to suggest that things had calmed down.

Both skippers admitted to the Level One offence (Article 2.1.4) of using language or a gesture that is obscene, offensive or insulting during the match. For Level 1 breaches of the IPL Code of Conduct, the Match Referee's decision is final and binding.

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