Sunil Gavaskar expressed disappointment after Kohli and Gambhir went too far at each other

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir were each fined the equivalent of one match fee after a post-match altercation in the IPL 2023, the incident took place after the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants on Monday, which the former won by a score of 18 runs.

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir were each fined the equivalent of one match fee after a post-match altercation in the IPL 2023. The incident took place after the game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants on Monday, which the former won by a score of 18 runs. 

Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq was also fined 50 percent of his match fee for breaching the league’s code of conduct. During a tense match in Lucknow, Kohli, and Naveen were seen exchanging sharp words on the field.

Kohli and Gambhir shared a frosty handshake after the match before both had a go at each other. LSG batter Kyle Mayers was spotted speaking with Kohli, who was then cut off by Gambhir. However, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar wasn’t happy with Kohli and Gambhir for having a go at each other.

“Well, I saw the visuals only a while ago, I did not see the match live yesterday. These things never look good. What is a 100 percent match fee? What exactly is a 100 percent match fee? If it is Kohli, who is on maybe Rs 17 crore for RCB, which means Rs 17 crore for a possible 16 matches, including the semi-finals, and finals. So you are talking about a crore of rupees. Is he going to be fined Rs 1 crore and more? Well, that’s a very, very stiff fine,”

India Today quoted Gavaskar as saying on Star Sports.

Gavaskar called for stricter punishments for players, to avoid another instance like this one.

“I don’t know what Gambhir’s situation is. They should ensure that this is not repeated. You are hoping that this is not repeated because it’s such a stiff fine, such a stiff punishment. You want to play it hard, play it competitively. During the time that we played, there was a bit of banter, but there was none of this aggression that we see now. A lot of it has got to do with the fact that everything is on TV too. Because you are on TV, you tend to do maybe just that little bit extra,”

he added.

Notably, Kohli and Gambhir, who have played together for India and Delhi, also got into a heated argument on-field exchange during a 2013 IPL match.