Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) clash on Monday in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) featured some dramatic scenes both during and after the match, most notably between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. RCB's former captain Kohli and LSG mentor Gambhir could be seen having a rather heated discussion after the match before being separated by players of both sides. This was after some tensions arose over the course of the game between Kohli and LSG's Naveen-ul-Haq.
There have been a number of reactions to the incidents from various quarters, including from Kohli and Naveen themselves after BCCI slapped hefty fines on the pair and Gambhir. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh, who himself was in the middle of one of the most famous post-match incidents in the IPL's history, has now appealed to Kohli and Gambhir to leave their differences behind and make a gesture of peace towards each other.
Harbhajan recalled the incident that happened after a match in the first season of the IPL in 2008 between his Mumbai Indians and Punjab Kings, then known as Kings XI Punjab, for whom his then India teammate Sreesanth used to play. Harbhajan had slapped Sreesanth after the match, for which the former ended up copping a lengthy ban. Harbhajan said that he regrets what he did then and he doesn't want Kohli and Gambhir, who have a history of being hostile towards each other in the IPL, to have similar feelings many years later.
“This won't stop here. People will be talking about it, trying to dissect who did what. All this though, is talk on the outside. As a someone who has lived through something like this myself. It was something similar that happened between me and Sreesanth back in 2008. Today, 15 years later, I still feel ashamed thinking about it. At the time I felt what has happened as happened, I was right. But no, what I did was wrong,” said Harbhajan on his Youtube page.
{{/usCountry}}“This won't stop here. People will be talking about it, trying to dissect who did what. All this though, is talk on the outside. As a someone who has lived through something like this myself. It was something similar that happened between me and Sreesanth back in 2008. Today, 15 years later, I still feel ashamed thinking about it. At the time I felt what has happened as happened, I was right. But no, what I did was wrong,” said Harbhajan on his Youtube page.
{{/usCountry}}A few years after the incident, Harbhajan and Sreesanth were an integral part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup. Incidentally, Gambhir and Kohli were both in that team as well.
"Virat Kohli, you are a legend. There is no need for you to get involved in something like this. But he is such a passionate player that he felt he is involved in the game and it happened. People will try to find out if it the mistake is Kohli's, Gambhir's or Naveen's but this picture that has been made is not good for cricket. Your both such big players, both are my younger brothers and it is with this liberty that I say that there is no use of this.
“I am bringing up my episode time and again because even today when I look back, I think I shouldn't have done that. I regret that a lot. I am sure you both will also think 15 years later why it was that we were fighting. It was a small matter, we could have solved it right there. We should make good memories. Please forget all this, just finish this matter. Meet each other, give each other a nice hug, cricket is made by you all, kids are watching you and as ambassadors of the game it is our responsibility to represent it in the right manner. So I hope both my brothers will make up and send out a good message,” said Harbhajan,