It's been barely 15 days since the Virat Kohli vs Sourav Ganguly feud was put to rest as the two former India captains shook handshake and put the 'no handshake' saga behind them. But fans seem to have dug up a third chapter in their rivalry by going after a tweet posted by the former BCCI president. On a day when three centuries were scored on the final double-header of IPL 2023 – Cameron Green, Kohli and Shubman Gill – Ganguly put out a tweet applauding the 'standard' of the IPL.
"What talent this country produces... Shubman Gill… Wow… two stunning knocks in two halves. IPL… what standards in the tournament," he tweeted. Ganguly's tweet was particularly directed at Gill's twin centuries since they are the future and the 'talent' he was referring to. However, fans found a loophole in the tweet and felt something was missing – the mention of Kohli, who scored a record 7th IPL century and surpassed the Universe Boss Chris Gayle to the landmark.
Here are some of the tweets:
The two haven't exactly shared the most cordial given what transpired between them when Kohli was axed as India's ODI captain when Ganguly was the BCCI president, and it spilt over in the IPL 2023 when Kohli of Royal Challengers Bangalore ignored Delhi Capitals director of cricket Ganguly by walking past him without exchanging post-match pleasantries. This was the first biggest controversy of the season, which created an uproar on social media. Was there bad blood between Kohli and Ganguly? Can they not stand each other? Are they still holding grudges against each other? Over the next few days, a couple of more videos emerged that showed Kohli giving the cold shoulder to Ganguly.
{{/usCountry}}The two haven't exactly shared the most cordial given what transpired between them when Kohli was axed as India's ODI captain when Ganguly was the BCCI president, and it spilt over in the IPL 2023 when Kohli of Royal Challengers Bangalore ignored Delhi Capitals director of cricket Ganguly by walking past him without exchanging post-match pleasantries. This was the first biggest controversy of the season, which created an uproar on social media. Was there bad blood between Kohli and Ganguly? Can they not stand each other? Are they still holding grudges against each other? Over the next few days, a couple of more videos emerged that showed Kohli giving the cold shoulder to Ganguly.
{{/usCountry}}But all that was put to bet when DC and RCB faced each other in Chinnaswamy. After the match, Ganguly and Kohli shook hands and seemed to have buried the hatchet once and for all. It is unlikely that their paths will cross anytime soon but if and whenever it happens, here's hoping for a much warmer interaction, whatever capacity it may be in.
Kohli and Ganguly shared a great relationship from the beginning, until their equation took a sour turn with the whole captaincy debacle. When Kohli relinquished India's T20I captaincy after the World Cup in 2021, reports suggest that he wanted to continue as captain in the other two formats, particularly with an eye on the 2023 World Cup. But the idea of two captains for two limited-overs format made little sense to Ganguly and the rest of the BCCI selection committee and hence they suggested Kohli to step down as India's ODI captain too. Things worsened when the BCCI did not even acknowledge all that Kohli had achieved and simply put out a tweet saying 'Rohit Sharma has been appointed India's new ODI captain'. After receiving a public backslash, BCCI hailed Kohli's contribution as the captain of the Indian team, but the matter did not end there.
A month later after losing the series in South Africa, Kohli stepped down as India's Test captain as well, catching everyone by surprise. The year 2022 was particularly abysmal for Kohli and it is believed that a lot of it had to do with Kohli's fallout with Ganguly and the board. Of course, Kohli's break and his return to form during last year's Asia Cup was a pendulum shift but it all culminated in his infamous staredown.