NEWS
Follow UsIt has been 10 days since the confrontation between Virat Kohli with Naveen-ul-Haq and Gautam Gambhir and is still remains one of the major talking points of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 so far.
It all began on the field when there was a heated exchange of words between Kohli and Afghanistan fast bowler Naveen. That trickled down after the match, where the duo exchanged words while shaking hands. Later, Gambhir, currently the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor, also got involved.
Former England spinner Graeme Swann, who is on commentary duties for the tournament, reckons that these sort of things happen and further added that sport would be dull without such incidents.
"Let's face it, if there was never any conflict in sport, it would be so dull. Having played Ashes test series throughout my life, this is nothing compared to that," Swann said, according to PTI.
"You should never try to dilute the players so much that they do not wear their hearts on their sleeves," he added.
Swann believes as there as there is no line crossed these confrontations should not be looked at seriously.
"One of the reasons Virat Kohli is 'Virat Kohli' is because he's so passionate about his cricket. He's so in your face when he's playing and he intimidates a lot of players," the former England spinner said.
"Some may think he's going too far. They are massive personalities, who grew up and played together. Gautam is never going to back down to Virat.
"If it spills over off the field and there's swearing stuff then that's wrong. As long as there are handshakes after the game and has not created a bad image on the screen, then I'm all for their passion," he said.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) went on to beat LSG by 18 runs in Lucknow in that encounter. Since then, they have gone on to lose both their games so far. Lucknow, on the other hand, are winless in their last three encounters.
