Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and their on-field altercation - this subject has been the topic of intense discussion since Monday night. Things turned ugly after an IPL 2023 game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants with Kohli and Gambhir being at the centre of it. The two could be seen being involved in a heated exchange after the game ended. However, this was not first time that the two stars clashed on the field. At the 2013 and 2016 IPLs, when Gambhir played for Kolkata Knight Riders, the two had altercations. In an old interview to NDTV six years back, Gambhir had given a detailed answer on his spat with Kohli and how there was nothing personal.
"I just want to make one thing clear. When you are playing against opposition, when you are playing against each other you got to be aggressive for your team. As a leader if you want your team to be aggressive, you got to be aggressive as well. You can only expect your team to play the way you play on the cricket field as well. Both of us are aggressive individuals and passionate individuals. We want to do well for our respective teams as well. When you play for the same team, even if you have differences of opinion, there is nothing wrong as I have felt that it is good to have differences of opinion. We both have the same ambition which is to try and make our country win," Gambhir had told NDTV six years ago.
"There was nothing personal about it. We have always believed in that. Even if we had some arguments on the cricket field, we've met very nicely off the field as well. This is fine This is what professional people do, this is what professional sportsmen do as well.
"I want to make thing very clear, tomorrow if I play Virat again, and if I have to be aggressive, I will be aggressive. That's the kind of personality I have, and that's the way I want to play the game as well. I expect the same from him as well. We are pretty good friends, we want to be pretty good frieds as well, but not on the cricket field. Off the field we can chat about a lot of things and discuss a lot of other matters as well. But on the cricket field its serious business."
Both Gambhir and Kohli were fined 100 per cent of their match fees after their latest spat.