"It seemed like Gautam Gambhir was trying to do something out of jealousy" - Ahmed Shehzad comments on Virat Kohli's fight with LSG mentor
Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad has weighed in on the spat between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli from IPL 2023.
Gambhir and Kohli had a heated exchange of words after a match between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Bharat Ratna Shree Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium last month. Kohli had a war of words with LSG's Naveen-ul-Haq first, and then the team's mentor Gambhir joined in.
Speaking recently on the Nadir Ali podcast, Ahmed Shehzad shared his views on the incident, insisting that Gambhir did the act out of jealousy.
"As a viewer, as a sportsman, this hurt my feelings a lot. It seemed like Gautam Gambhir was trying to do something out of jealousy. It looked like he was waiting for something to happen so that he can create a controversy with Virat," Shehzad said.
The Pakistan opener further commented that it was probably the first time he saw a member of a team management argue the way Gautam Gambhir did with Virat Kohli on the cricket field.
"I can understand that Virat Kohli had a fight with the player from Afghanistan" - Ahmed Shehzad defends RCB star
Ahmed Shehzad continued to defend Royal Challengers Bangalore star Virat Kohli in this episode and said that such things can happen on the field in the heat of the moment. However, Shehzad could not understand why Gautam Gambhir went out of his way to have a war of words with the biggest player of his nation.
"It was really sad to see such an episode. I can understand that Kohli had a fight with the player from Afghanistan (Naveen-ul-Haq) because such things happen in the heat of the moment. But I did not understand why Gautam Gambhir showed such gestures towards the biggest player of his own country, Kohli," Shehzad concluded.
Kohli, Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq were heavily fined following the incident in Lucknow. Gambhir even said in an interview after the IPL that their fight was only on the field, not off the field.