Srinagar: India batting stalwart Virat Kohli has reached out to BCCI officials explaining his position during ugly spat with LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir and player Naveen ul Haq during ongoing IPL 2023.
RCB’s Kohli had ugly spat with both Gambhir and Naveen after the match in which RCB emerged as winner. Both Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100 percent of their match fee while as Naveen was fined 50 percent.
Npw after five days the report has claimed that the former RCB captain wrote to a few BCCI officials explaining the situation.
According to a Dainik Jagran report, Kohli also expressed his disappointment to the BCCI officials for being docked 100% match fee.
Kohli reportedly said he did not say anything to Naveen-ul-Haq or Gambhir during the fight that will attract such a punishment from the BCCI.
Report claimed that Kohli, doesn’t feel his behaviour warranted such a fine, which could go up to about ₹1.25 crore for him. Although, he won’t pay the fine as RCB has a policy of not deducting match fees from their players’ salaries for on-field offences.
According to players and officials who were witnesses to the verbal altercations, Kohli was hostile with his treatment towards Naveen-ul-Haq and Kyle Mayers. Amit Mishra, who was batting with Naveen towards the end of LSG’s chase, also complained to the umpires about Kohli’s behaviour.
The report claimed that RCB pacer Mohammed Siraj’s bouncers and throws at Naveen-ul-Haq irked the Afghanistan pacer. Kohli in his message to BCCI officials said he did not direct Siraj to hit Naveen but instead only instructed him to bowl bouncers.
After the match, the aggressive manner in which Naveen-ul-Haq brushed aside Kohli’s handshake and almost pushed him away did not go down well with the fans. Kohli reportedly also complained about Naveen for his aggressive behaviour after the match.