Former India captain and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Virat Kohli has found support from an unexpected corner, with former Pakistan batsman Ahmed Shehzad supporting former India opener in IPL and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Gautam Gambhir. Has spoken on his behalf after the fight with. 2023 last month. The fight between Kohli and Gambhir was one of the biggest talking points of IPL 2023 and both the cricketers were fined 100 per cent of their match fees after the match in Lucknow.
Gambhir and Kohli had a heated exchange of words after the IPL 2023 match between RCB and LSG at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium last month. Kohli first had a war of words with Naveen-ul-Haq of LSG and then team mentor Gambhir joined in.
Recently speaking on the Nadir Ali Podcast, former Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad shared his thoughts on the incident, and insisted that Gambhir did it out of jealousy.
“As a spectator, as a player, it hurt my feelings a lot. It seemed as if Gautam Gambhir was trying to do something out of jealousy. It seemed like he was waiting for something to happen so that he could create a controversy with Virat.” Shehzad said.
Watch Ahmed Shahzad speak in support Virat Kohli Here…
Ahmed Shahzad defended Virat Kohli in the incident with Gautam Gambhir.
Ahmed also said that Gautam would never do this to someone like Tendulkar. Virat is a legend and has earned more respect than Gautam in his life.
Video credit: Nadir Ali Podcastpic.twitter.com/9XVIY0oHrQ— Farid Khan (@_FaridKhan) 22 June 2023
The former Pakistan opener further said that this is probably the first time that he has seen any member of the team management arguing with Virat Kohli like this on the cricket field. “It was really sad to see such an episode. I can understand Kohli having a fight with the Afghanistan player (Naveen-ul-Haq) because such things happen in the heat of the moment. But I don’t understand why Gautam Gambhir showed such gestures towards his own country’s biggest player Kohli,” said Shahzad.
Kohli, Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq were heavily fined after the Lucknow incident. Gambhir even said in an interview after the IPL that his fight is only on the field, not off the field.
Shahzad further said that whenever he needed to talk to him, Kohli was always there for him off the field. “Friendship is in the sense that we both have a lot of respect for each other. He is always there whenever I need advice. He has been very kind, very humble. I respect him a lot as a player. He changed dramatically over the years. When he was an Under-19 player, he was quite fat,” Shahzad said on Nadir Ali’s podcast.