Gautam Gambhir's friend says that he and Virat Kohli dined together post their fight in the IPL game in 2013
Gautam Gambhir is a very interesting character in Indian cricket. Passion for the game and more importantly, passion to win is something that runs in his blood. He is always seen to be this serious guy, always focussed on the field, looking to move the game forward.
In a career spanning 13 years (He made his international debut in 2003 remember), he has been involved in numerous incidents, where one has seen that very passion boil over. Among the first that come to mind is the ODI game against Pakistan in Kanpur in 2007, where he was involved in a heated spat with Shahid Afridi. Years later, the all-rounder revealed in a Twitter interaction with the fans that he will never be friends with the Delhi left-hander.
A year later, he was part of yet another altercation with Australian cricketer Simon Katich, in the Test match in New Delhi, where there was an exchange of words between the two near the umpire's end of the pitch.
That incident seems to have found its end since the Australian is now the assistant coach to Jacques Kallis at the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League- a franchise which the left-hander has led to great success after a poor couple of seasons at the start.
But if there is an incident which Indian cricket fans remember the most, it is the one involving Gambhir and Virat Kohli at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore during the 2013 edition of the Indian Premier League, where after the latter was dismissed and was on his way back, was involved in a fiery exchange of words with his statemate.
Rajat Bhatia, who has played for Delhi with the both of them and was part of the Kolkata Knight Riders set up at the time, had to play the pacifier and had to separate the duo from continuing their altercation.
Ever since then there was always been speculation on the kind of relationship the duo shared and expectedly so.
But now an interesting development has occurred that would surely make us all look at the relationship shared by the two cricketers in a totally different light.
A friend of Gambhir has revealed the both him and Kohli actually dined together in the Garden City post the game that day.
“It’s the sheer desire to win at all costs that brought out the conflict between Virat and Gautam. In fact, both he and Virat dined in his Taj Gardenia hotel room the day they fought in Bangalore in 2013, but sadly, these things never get reported. Both admire each other, GG calls Virat `Cheeks,’ while Virat addresses him as `Bhaiya.’ Both love Man United (Manchester United) and playstations, and are even currently together in the gym in Indore with Team India trainer Shanker Basu,” the friend told the Times of India.
Also read: How to control sessions is lesson learnt in Tests: Kohli
Gambhir was recalled for the last two Tests ongoing series against New Zealand and prior to the Test match in Kolkata last week, we saw a video whether the duo were seen chatting away.
Even in the Indian Premier League earlier this year, an image of the two embracing one another went around the circuit and this revelation by Gambhir’s friend should perhaps be the last and closing chapter in the whole Kohli-Gambhir saga.