The on-field spat between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir was one of the most controversial moments of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. The Royal Challengers Bangalore star had a war of words with the then Lucknow Super Giants mentor following an IPL 2023 match and both of them ended up getting hefty fines for their conduct. While things have settled down since then, several social media users have found a video that shows Gambhir give an angry reaction to "Kohli, Kohli" chants. In the video, Gambhir could be seen giving an angry gesture as fans chanted towards him. The video went viral during the Asia Cup 2023 match between India and Nepal but NDTV could not independently verify its authenticity.
However, Gambhir refuted the claims and explained the reason behind his actions.
"What is shown on social media has no truth in it because people show whatever they want to show. The truth about the video that went viral is that if you raise anti-India slogans and speak about Kashmir then the person before you will obviously react and not smile and leave. There were 2-3 Pakistanis there who were speaking anti-India things and things on Kashmir. So, it was my natural reaction. I can't hear anything against my country. So, that was my reaction...," he told ANI.
Earlier, Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to field against Nepal.
"We are gonna bowl first. No particular reason. We batted in the last game. We want to see what the bowlers have in offer for us. I don't know about the weather. We just want to have the bowlers to have a game under the belt. The way we batted under pressure, Hardik and Ishan batted brilliantly. Ishan showed a lot of maturity and took the game on as well. Good signs for us. It's another important game for us. One change. Bumrah is not available, we've got Shami in place for him," Rohit said at the toss.
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj
Nepal (Playing XI): Kushal Bhurtel, Aasif Sheikh(w), Rohit Paudel(c), Bhim Sharki, Sompal Kami, Gulsan Jha, Dipendra Singh Airee, Kushal Malla, Sandeep Lamichhane, Karan KC, Lalit Rajbanshi.