RCB’s Virat Kohli and Gambhir, who was then a mentor for the Lucknow Super Giants, got into a furious confrontation during the IPL 2023 following the latter’s altercation with Naveen ul Haq.
Putting aside their rivalry in cricket, Bengaluru witnessed a really remarkable occasion during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs. Kolkata Knight Riders IPL 2024 match. Two men made headlines in the lead-up to the match: Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. After the latter’s fight with Naveen ul Haq, Gambhir, who was then a mentor for the Lucknow Super Giants, got into a furious argument with Virat Kohli of the RCB during the IPL 2023. The photo of the brawl between the two elite cricket players went viral.
Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli shared a hug on the field on Friday. Virat Kohli was approached by Gautam Gambhir, who shook his hand. They gave each other a hug. The two’s hugging photo went viral.
Regarding the incident, Ravi Shastri stated, “Fairplay award to KKR for this hug between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir.”
Sunil Gavaskar remarked, “Not just a fairplay award, but an Oscar award as well.”
Speaking about the game, Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s thrilling 182 for six against Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL match on Friday was built on star batsman Virat Kohli’s deft unbeaten fifty.
After being requested to bat first on a slower-moving pitch, the host team displayed a two-faced effort as Kohli (83, 59b, 4×4, 4×6) and Cameron Green (33 off 21b) milked 65 runs off 42 balls for the second wicket, the main partnership in an RCB innings.
At the end, the RCB total gained momentum because to a classic Dinesh Karthik cameo (20, 8b, 3×6).
As the Royal Challengers captain attempted to scoop pacer Harshit Rana, Mitchell Starc got the better of him inside the circle, and skipper Faf du Plessis returned early.
After a hectic stand that saw RCB reach 61 for 1 in the Power Play portion, however, a spell of steadiness was achieved thanks to Kohli and Green.
The stroke of the evening was a swat-flick off Starc that went for a six. Kohli earned his runs with drives, lofts over covers, and a new addition to his batting, sweeps and slog-sweeps.
Actually, the swat-flick—a product of his quest to discover fresh strategies for maintaining bowlers’ dominance—better captures Kohli’s batting style than any other stroke.
This usually delicate shot may become a dangerous run-making option with a quick snap of the wrists and force from a powerful bottom hand.
With the exception of Green, all other hitters struggled with timing and momentum until Kohli hit his fifty in thirty-six balls.
However, Green’s batting was all about physical force, so he wasn’t much concerned about such sophisticated angles.
Green got 15 runs off the spinner’s opening over, which featured a sequence of 4, 4, 6, including a sweep, slap past cover, and a hoick over long-on. Sunil Narine, who was playing in his 500th T20 competition, was given a battering.
But when Green attempted to play a pull off Andre Russell, the ball kept a little low and crashed down to his stumps, ending their blossoming partnership.
As his luck eventually ran out against Narine, Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped twice on 11 and 21 en way to a 19-ball 28, was unable to take advantage of the glut of KKR fielders.
Rinku Singh caught a slash off the West Indian spinner at deep point, forcing Maxwell to leave the game after he and Kohli had added 42 runs for the third wicket.
After his struggles in the Test series against England, Rajat Patidar (3, 4b) appeared to be lacking confidence, as the right-hander delivered another very disappointing blow.
However, at one point, Kohli persisted despite the KKR spinners’ outstanding use of the pace-off technique to stifle the action.
