Page 42 - The Indian EYE 051223

SPORTS MAY 12, 2023 | The Indian Eye 42

IPL 2023

Virat-Gambhir spat

continues to rattle bigwigs as

allegations fly all around

OUR BUREAU
New Delhi/Mumbai/Lucknow
ormer India batter Gautam
Gambhir lashed out at senior
Fjournalist Rajat Sharma, who
once was the president of the Del-
hi & District Cricket Association
(DDCA), for his coverage of an ap-
parent spat between him and star
batter Virat Kohli following the In-
dian Premier League (IPL) match
between Lucknow Super Giants and
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB),
in which the latter emerged victorious.
The altercation happened at
the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari
Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium
in Lucknow on Monday after RCB
bowled LSG out for 108, scoring
126/9 in 20 overs, with skipper KL
Rahul batting through a leg injury in
an unsuccessful attempt to take his
side to victory. Kohli had celebrated
the fall of the LSG wickets during
their innings with his trademark ag-
gression. He was also seen blowing
kisses to the crowd.
In the previous encounter be-
tween the two sides last month, LSG
team mentor Gambhir had signalled
the RCB home crowd to be quiet af- Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli celebrates a wicket in a match against Luckow Super Giants during in Lucknow on Monday (ANI)
ter the visitors scraped to a narrow
win. Not only did Kohli blow kisses
at the Lucknow crowd when their support staff were seen separating er” was someone who could “give apnii ‘adaalt’ claate haiN (It is, per-
team lost a wicket, but he also emu- the two. Kohli was then seen having it back” to Gambhir. The journalist haps, a testament to the times we are
lated Gambhir by pressing his finger a lengthy chat with LSG captain KL claimed further that Gambhir’s ac- living in that a truant is running his
to his lips, emulating the latter’s ges- Rahul. tions were against sportsmanship, own court),” Gambhir tweeted.
ture for the crowd to keep quiet. After the match ended, Gam- did not behove his status as an MP Rajat had resigned as DDCA
At the conclusion of the match, bhir and Virat shook hands and and were damaging to the gentle- president in November 2019. He was
LSG opener Kyle Mayers walked up things looked fine then. man’s game. appointed to the post in July 2018.
to Kohli and started speaking some- Rajat, in his news programme Gambhir, in response, sent out a Coming to the match between
thing when Gambhir came and took on India TV, claimed Gambhir had tweet Rajat Sharma’s popular show LSG and RCB, Gambhir and Vi-
the West Indian away. Moments an inflated ego after being elected a ‘Aap ki Adalat’. “A man who ran away rat were fined 100 per cent of their
after this incident, cameras picked Member of Parliament on a Bhara- from the job of running Delhi Crick- match fees for breaching the Indian
up Gautam Gambhir speaking an- tiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket. He et, citing pressure seems over-eager Premier League Code of Conduct.
imatedly with Virat Kohli. Other also said that Virat, whom he called to sell paid PR as concern for crick- LSG bowler Naveen-ul-Haq was
players, including KL Rahul, and an “aggressive, no-nonsense play- et! yhii klyug’ hai jhaaN ‘bhgodd’e’
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