Shocking Reason Behind Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir Ugly Brawl! Did Mohammad Siraj, Naveen ul Haq Trigger the Fight?

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir were at each other’s throat on Monday after Royal Challengers Bangalore clinched a low-scoring affair at the Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow and while RCB’s win was marred by the ugly scenes that followed between Kohli and LSG coach Gautam Gambhir, the two were not actually the ones who started it all.

From the visuals, it does seem Afghanistan’s Naveen Ul Haq was at the centre of the controversy, but Kohli himself was in the heat of the moment for the majority of the game. While in their previous encounter, LSG coach Gambhir had some role to play at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in mocking the crowd after LSG won a thriller, it seemed Kohli was returning the favour at the Ekana with some prodding celebrations each time LSG lost a wicket in the chase.

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But the actual incident that seemed to have triggered both Kohli and Gambhir’s emotions – eventually spilled over – came in the last ball of the 17th over. Having conceded eight runs off the first five deliveries of his third over, Siraj bowled a dot – a fuller delivery fired at the pads of Naveen and then Siraj proceeded to give a stare down to Naveen and threw the ball at the stumps at the batter’s end with Naveen well inside the crease.

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Naveen and Siraj exchanged a few words and it was at that moment that Kohli intervened. LSG’s other batter, veteran Amit Mishra tried to pacify Kohli but the former India captain, in his usual on-filed animated avatar had a few words with Mishra as well. The umpires had to intervene when Naveen charged at Kohli. Kohli was visibly miffed after that and made his thoughts clear to the umpires.

And even as Harshal Patel readied himself to bowl the 18th over of the match, visuals captured Kohli pointing at Naveen, presumably, and talking non-stop. Naveen, a hothead with a history of player altercations, looked visibly miffed.

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After RCB registered an 18-run win as the players were shaking hands, Naveen and Kohli came face to face again and a few words were exchanged. In another frame, Gambhir too was seen in an animated discussion with the umpires.

Post the handshakes, LSG opener Kyle Mayers approached Kohli and as they were talking, Gambhir swiftly pulled Mayers aside and then the confrontation happened. Even as KL Rahul tried to push Gamhir away from the commotion, Gambhir kept charging at Kohli and at the other end, Kohli too, paying no heed to his teammates walked towards Gambhir, with most of the players trying to keep the two apart.

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There was also one other visual in which Rahul was seen talking to Kohli and then proceeding to call Naveen, who was walking by, to come and talk to Kohli, but Naveen could be seen shrugging off the invite and proceeding to walk away, making Kohii irate again.

Following the incident, Gambhir and Kohli were been fined 100 per cent of their match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct while Naveen incurred a 50 per cent match fee fine.

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