‘Hooliganism', ‘shameful’: Congress leader lashes out on Gautam Gambhir on field spat with Virat Kohli

A day after Indian cricketers Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir had a spat on the field at the Ekana Stadium after a match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Congress leader Supriya Shrinate said that Gambhir's act of “hooliganism” was shameful.

Taking to Twitter, Shrinate wrote, “Gautam Gambhir - an elected MP and Cricket player who ever wore the jersey of India. But his actions in the recent past and especially his street gang hooliganism after the IPL match yesterday is shameful. I wish…someday such an aggressive attitude would be shown in doing good to the people who have elected them. This is only the hysteria of the upcoming defeat in Karnataka.”

On Monday, during the Indian Premier League (IPL) match between RCB captain Kohli and LSG mentor shooks hands after the match. A furious Gambhir was seen aggressively shaking hands with Kohli before Kyle Mayers walked towards the former RCB skipper to have a chat but Gambhir interrupted and took him away. Gambhir then hurled a mouthful at Kohli, drawing him into a heated exchange.

From a video footage that has gone viral, it appears that Gambhir was the one trying to charge at Kohli even as LSG players, including captain KL Rahul tried to stop him multiple times. However, Gambhir and Kohli ended up having an ugly spat.

In the end, it was Rahul who calmed Kohli down after having a long chat with him over the Gambhir episode, which was preceded by another row involving Virat, Naveen and Amit Mishra during the match.

The spat between Kohli and Gambhir goes way back to 2013. Since the 2013 IPL, the tensions between the duo have been high. They have occasionally been known to get into heated arguments on field.