The Indian Premier League (IPL) saw another dramatic encounter as the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) team mentor Gautam Gambhir and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Virat Kohli were handed a 100 percent match fee fine for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. The incident occurred on Monday after the match ended at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
Both Gambhir and Kohli have admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct, news agency ANI reported.
This was not the first time the two players had a heated exchange on the field. In fact, they had previously clashed during an RCB-KKR match in 2013, when Gambhir was the captain of KKR.
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The incident began when LSG bowler Naveen-ul-Haq and Kohli exchanged words during the post-match handshake. LSG opener Kyle Mayers then approached Kohli and had a conversation with him, which was interrupted by Gambhir pulling the opener away. Kohli tried to calm Gambhir by putting his hand on his shoulder, but things quickly escalated. Both players engaged in a heated verbal exchange and had to be separated by their teammates.
In addition, LSG's bowler Naveen-ul-Haq was also fined 50 percent of his match fee for violating the IPL Code of Conduct. The left-arm seamer admitted to the Level 1 offence.
On the field, RCB read the slow pitch perfectly and successfully defended their score of 126 runs against LSG. At the halfway mark, Bangalore's score of 126-9 looked under par. However, Lucknow's counter-charge didn't work on a tricky home track, and the team was bowled out for 108 in the final over.
Lucknow faced a severe setback as their captain, Lokesh Rahul, left the field in pain, clutching his right thigh during only the second over of the game. Rahul was absent until the fall of his team's ninth wicket, and when he did come back, he faced three balls but failed to score as Bangalore wrapped up a dominant victory.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
