Kohli, Gambhir hug it out

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir seemingly buried the hatchet as the two embraced and had a brief interaction during the match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Bengaluru yesterday.

The two have had a number of heated interactions on the field in the past, the last of which happened in IPL 2023, when Gambhir was the mentor of the Lucknow Super Giants.

During a match between Lucknow and Bengaluru, Kohli had an argument with Lucknow's Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq, where the umpires had to intervene. After the match, Gambhir was seen having an intense conversation with Kohli and later both players even charged at each other and had to be separated by their respective teams.

All three players were charged for breaching the code of conduct.

This is the first time these two individuals were in the opposing camps in the cricket field since that match and fans and broadcasters were keen to catch any glimpse of animosity between them.

But during the second strategic time out of the Bengaluru innings, Gambhir, who is now the mentor of Kolkata, hugged Kohli while leaving the field and had a brief interaction, where both seemed cordial to each other.

Commentator and former India coach Ravi Shastri appreciated the gesture from Gambhir and Kohli and said they deserve a fairplay award for the gesture.

However, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was commentating at the time, felt that both players did very well to hide their mutual dislike of each other, saying, "Not only a fairplay award, they should be given an Oscar."

In the match, Gambhir's Kolkata easily defeated Bengaluru, winning the match by seven wickets.