Former India batter Gautam Gambhir and former India captain Virat Kohli have enjoyed a bitter sweet relation over the years. Both of them hail from Delhi and are aggressive by nature. They even got engaged in a verbal brawl during an Indian Premier League 2013 game between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders at the MA Chinnaswamy Stadium.
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It was right after former KKR pacer Lakshmipathy Balaji dismissed Kohli that he murmured something only to invite Gambhir‘s interference for a heated discussion. Former Knight Riders all-rounder Rajat Bhatia, who had also played largely for Delhi in the domestic circuit, had to intervene in between before Kohli returned to the pavilion.
Gambhir once recalled the incident, where he said that he had no grudges against Kohli with respect to the incident. Both of them shook hands as well in a friendly manner after the game.
Gautam Gambhir once took a dig at Virat Kohli’s captaincy
Gambhir once pointed at Kohli’s failure as captain of Royal Challengers. He had said that Kohli did well in international cricket because he had players of the likes of Rohit Sharma and Mahendra Singh Dhoni playing under him. Gambhir had insisted that winning a franchise tournament is a tougher task.
Gambhir also compared Kohli to Sharma and Dhoni, where he said that Chennai Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have been pretty successful in the IPL. RCB, on the other hand, are yet to win a maiden IPL title.
“He captains so well in international cricket because he has got Rohit Sharma, he had MS Dhoni for a long time. Captaincy credentials are noticed when you are leading a franchise, when you do not have other players supporting you,” Gambhir had once said while interacting with the students of a university.
“I have been honest whenever I have spoken about this. See what Rohit Sharma has achieved for Mumbai Indians, see what Dhoni has achieved for Chennai Super Kings. If you compare that with RCB, the results are there for everyone to see.”
Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir IPL captaincy record
Kohli has led in 140 IPL matches, winning 64 and losing 69 matches in the process. He has a winning percentage of 48.16%. Gambhir, on the other hand, has led in 129 matches, and he has a winning percentage of 55.42%. Furthermore, under Gambhir’s captaincy, KKR won IPL titles in 2012 and 2014.
