Earlier this week, Indian legend and star Royal Challengers Bangalore batsman Virat Kohli clashed with another Indian legend and current mentor of Lucknow Super Giants Gautam Gambhir. This is not the first time when the duo has clashed as their feud has been running for well over a decade.
Following their spat, India TV’s Rajat Sharma stepped in and castigated Gambhir over the unruly scenes. Rajat Sharma accused Gambhir of being ‘jealous’ of Kohli’s popularity and blamed Gambhir for the altercation. Sharma added that Kohli has a habit of not tolerating any kind of nonsense and he therefore gave it back to Gambhir. He further went on to say that what Gambhir did during the match was against the spirit of sportsmanship and suited neither a former cricketer nor a Member of Parliament.
Not the one to take things lying down, Gautam Gambhir replied to the former Delhi & District Cricket Association President Rajat Sharma through his Twitter account. Gambhir said, “Man who ran away from Delhi Cricket citing “pressure” seems over eager to sell paid PR as concern for cricket!”
Gambhir further added in Hindi, “यही कलयुग़ है जहां ‘भगोड़े’ अपनी ‘अदालत’ चलाते हैं।”, leaving no doubt who he was targeting with his jibe by adding the adalat part.
This cold war between India TV’s Editor-in-Chief and a former Indian cricketer may seem a bit bizarre but this has been brewing for several years.
Interestingly, Rajat Sharma became the president of the Delhi & District Cricket Association (DDCA) in 2019 without having any prior connection to cricket. However, Sharma left after only a month as he couldn’t cope with the pressure of the job and blamed various outside influences for his decision, something Gambhir highlighted in his recent tweet.
Rajat Sharma’s resignation from DDCA was also full of drama and chaos as he first resigned before the ombudsman put him back in charge and then he resigned again. After having swept to power in Delhi, his decision to quit soon afterward obviously didn’t sit well with Gautam Gambhir, a Delhi stalwart and now a Member of Parliament from Delhi.
Gautam Gambhir was one of the government-nominated directors on the DDCA Apex Council when Rajat Sharma won the elections and ruled Delhi cricket for that short while. The two were having a silent cold war since those days of working together in the DDCA but the recent Gambhir-Kohli spat has brought it all out in the open again.
Rajat Sharma launched the first salvo by blaming Gambhir entirely for the whole fracas during the IPL game between Lucknow and RCB, and expectedly Gambhir responded. Looking at the two individuals involved, it is unlikely that we have seen the last of this feud. Maybe Kohli can be the peacemaker here and try to bring the two closer.