Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli go back a long way. More than a decade ago, they stitched together one of the most important partnerships in Indian cricket history. With Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar back in the hut, and no team having chased a target as big as 275 in a World Cup final, India were on thin ice at 31-2. Gambhir was already a Delhi stalwart by the time Kohli first played for the state side in February 2006, and the two set about dragging India back into the contest. Without their 83-run partnership from just 93 balls, which allowed India to consolidate and also wrest back momentum from Sri Lanka, there might have been no second World Cup triumph.
On May 1, 2023, we saw the unsavoury side of both men in the IPL game between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore. We keep saying that the IPL is all about aspiration. It is about the youngsters finding a voice. That simply can’t be on the field of play alone. It Is also about off-the-field conduct, and setting an example. Emulating role models. That’s where legends like Kohli and Gambhir need to do better. What happened was painful to see. Both of them charging at each other hurling abuse isn’t something youngsters need to grow up watching.
This aggression wasn’t needed. While Kohli is all about aggression and many model themselves on him, this post-game combativeness cannot be condoned. It is plain wrong and unacceptable.
Gambhirtoo was equally in the wrong. However heated the exchange was, as mentor of the Lucknow team, he just needed to walk away. Move past. All talk this morning is about this ugly spat. The videos are going viral, and this is what every youngster will see. Impressionistic minds don’t need this. And that’s where we need better examples to be set by stars like Kohli and Gambhir.
Watch Video: Kohli-Gambhir Needle Plays Out in Background of RCB Win
We don’t know who started it, and who said what. Nor do we need to. It doesn’t matter. What matters is what we saw on national television and our phones. It doesn’t matter who was right and who was wrong. Both were wrong. And badly so. This Kohli-gave-it-back rhetoric is pathetic. In sport, you give it back on the field of play. Not off it. That’s where it all ends. And that’s why it’s sport, governed by rules of fair play and not the law of the jungle.
Neither Kohli nor Gambhir are rookies. They know who they are. They are role models followed by millions. Idolised and worshipped. And with power, comes responsibility. That’s where they failed the sport they both so love. Whatever may have been the provocation, one of them should have walked away and closed it. Not added fuel to the fire, and indulged more. It wasn’t banter. It was a street brawl of sorts, and it was plain ugly.
What was good to see was the role of other players. Each one played a part in trying to separate the two. When Kohli’s dismissal in an IPL game between Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in April 2013 set off a similar verbal volley, it was Rajat Bhatia, who had played with both in Delhi’s Ranji Trophy set-up, that stepped in as peace-maker. Close the matter, and move on. That’s important. Those players did not succumb to the heat of the occasion. Rather, they behaved with sense and dignity. Else, things could easily have gone further out of control.
While this issue will trend all day, it is good that the BCCI has fined both Kohli and Gambhir. Taken a stand. And it is important that experts condemn it and take a stand, instead of letting things be knowing who the main actors are. There is a tendency to go soft on stars like Kohli and Gambhir. Their reputations do not make them bigger than the game that made them both. And if the game is disrespected, the individual needs to be put in place, irrespective of who they are.