Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli were seen kissing during the strategic break of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) – Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) match at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday.
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The two men, arguably the greatest Indian cricketers of the modern era, have had several on-field feuds over the years as they have been involved in many heated exchanges on the cricket field.
The two teams, RCB and KKR, faced each other in 32 matches in the tournament, with KKR having the upper hand with 18 wins. Even in their last five encounters, Kolkata Knight Riders have maintained a dominant record, winning four out of the five matches against RCB.
Notably, KKR won the IPL twice in 2012 and 2014 while RCB is still looking for its first trophy after 16 seasons.
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Gambhir and former RCB skipper Kohli found themselves involved in an intense on-field altercation following a match between RCB and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) – Gambhir was coaching the team at the time.
“A team I wanted to beat every time and probably even in my dreams was RCB…The second most prominent team and the flamboyant team with the owner and with the team; Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers,” Gambhir had told official channel Star Sports.
“Honestly, I didn’t win anything, I still thought they won everything with that kind of attitude and (i) I can’t accept that. And probably KKR’s three best wins have been against RCB – the first time; the first IPL match, Brendan McCollum vs RCB. (The) 49 all out… RCB. 6 overs 100. Probably the only time in IPL where in the first 6 overs 100 were scored; Chris Lynn and Sunil Narayan,” Gambhir added.
The former Indian batter praised RCB for their star batting unit while expressing his desire. “We always knew they were a very strong team and probably the most aggressive batting unit as well. Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers. What can be better than that? If one thing I want from my IPL career or even one thing I would have loved to return to the cricket field and beat RCB,” Gambhir said.
(With contributions from agencies)
first publication: March 29, 2024, 8:57 p.m. IST