The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has begun with some electrifying oments that has enthralled cricket fans, with many matches going right down to the wire. While the IPL has produced some magical moments, it has also seen its fair share of controversial moments as well. The most controversial moment came during the 20th match of the tournament between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals. It involved Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly who shared quite some cold vibes between them.
In a video that appeared after the game, it seemed that while Kohli was shaking hands with all of the Delhi Capitals players and support staff, he completely ignored Sourav Ganguly, who is the Director of Cricket at the franchise. In fact, a video later emerged, where Kohli was seen giving a death stare to Ganguly.
Delhi Capitals assistant coach and former Australian all rounder Shane Watson, who was present during this altercation at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, gave an insight into the controversial face off.
“It could be rumour mongering, but I’m not sure. So, it’s not something I want to get involved in,” Watson said on The Grade Cricketer podcast when asked about the rumoured rift between Kohli and Ganguly.
“But there was definitely some fire in Virat’s belly, that’s for sure. For an opposition point of view, that’s the last thing you need as well. Virat, when he’s like that, that’s when he’s at his absolute best. Whatever reason that was, I’m not exactly sure,” the Aussie added.
Sourav Ganguly was the BCCI president when Virat Kohli stepped down from captaincy. While the BCCI stated that they wanted the same captain for both ODIs and T20Is, Ganguly claimed that he had spoken to Virat Kohli to continue and not step down from T20I captaincy. Kohli, in a press conference, he completely denied Ganguly’s claim, and since then there have been rumours of a rift between the two.
Interestingly, after the incident during the DC-RCB game, Virat Kohli reportedly unfollowed Sourav Ganguly on Instagram, while a few days later Ganguly did the same with Kohli.
