Kohli, Gambhir fined 100% of match fees for verbal spat after match

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have been fined 100% of their match fee over verbal altercation after an IPL match on Monday, in which Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs.

Both were found to be in breach of article 2.21 of the IPL’s code of conduct. Meanwhile, LSG Naveen-ul-Haq has been fined 50% of his match fees.

Ten years ago in the IPL, Kohli and Gambhir had an altercation during RCB’s match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru. Gambhir, now retired, is with the LSG as their global mentor.

It all started after the game which was played at Lucknow, LSG’s home turf. When the players were shaking hands, words were exchanged between Kohli and Naveen. After that Gambhir pulled away LSG’s opening batsman Kyle Mayers, who was having a chat with Kohli.

Few seconds after that Gambhir was seen charging at Kohli while KL Rahul trying to restrain the former player. When both were in each other’s faces, Kohli was seen trying to explain Gambhir but things heated up and spinner Amit Mishra intervened to separate both from each other.

Defending a low total of 126, RCB had more crowd support than the hosts LSG. Kohli seemed animated and also shushed the crowd after taking a catch to dismiss Krunal Pandya.