An eyewitness to the contentious Virat Kohli-Gautam Gambhir verbal spat has revealed who and what instigated the dramatic scenes following Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) win over the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) late on Monday (May 1) night in IPL 2023. 

The two cricketers, historically not known as best friends and involved in multiple on-field arguments in IPL, were at it again, as the LSG team mentor seemingly took offence to the series of sledging interactions and jeering from Kohli with the home team players at the close of their unsuccessful run-chase. 

Those were only conjectures based on the number of clips from the incident that did the rounds over social media. According to a report in the PTI, however, an eyewitness of the entire incident has laid bare the details of the whole fiasco and what exactly got said between the two Indian cricketers. 

Amidst polarised opinions and villainization and defence taking place for either side, this eyewitness present at the ground, as per PTI, is said to have known the exact bone of contention for the argument and the words that were thrown around by Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir in extreme anger at each other. 

Eyewitness reveals details on Kohli-Gambhir ugly tussle 

As seen in the clips, initially Virat Kohli indulged in verbal spats with LSG seamer Naveen-Ul-Haq and wristspinner Amit Mishra, before he had his full-blown argument and abusive exchange with Gambhir near the opposition dugout. In between, in one of the clips, Gambhir could seen pulling away LSG opener Kyle Mayers from a conversation he was having with Kohli, feeling wary that things may take ugly turn between the two. 

According to the anonymous eyewitness in the PTI report, that was indeed the case and Gambhir got riled up hearing series of complaints by LSG players for abuse faced from his ex India and Delhi teammate during the game. 

"You saw on TV that Mayers and Virat were walking side by side for a few metres post match. Mayers asked Kohli why was he constantly abusing them and Virat, in turn, questioned why was he (Mayers) 'staring' at him? Before that (Amit) Mishra had complained to umpire about Virat constantly abusing Naveen (ul-Haq), who is a No. 10 batter," the eyewitness was quoted as saying by PTI. 

"Gautam, sensing that things could turn ugly, pulled Mayers and told him not to have a conversation, when Virat made a comment. The heated exchange that followed seemed a bit juvenile," he added. 

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More interesting, though, are the details of the infamous argument that was seen on camera between Kohli and Gambhir. The eyewitness noted that Gambhir wanted to settle matters with the RCB batter after coming to know of the abuse being thrown around by the Indian great at the Ekana Stadium to Lucknow cricketers. 

"Gautam asked 'Kya bol raha hain bol' (What were you saying?) and Virat replied, 'Maine aapko kuch bola hi naahin, aap kyon ghus rahein ho' (Why are you coming in between when I haven't told you anything)."

"Gautam responded, 'Tuney agar mere player ko bola hai, matlab tune meri family ko gaali diya hai. (You abused my player and that's like abusing my family) and Virat's reply was, 'Toh aap apne family ko sambhal ke rakhiye'. (Then you take care of your family)," the eyewitness said. 

Both Gambhir and Kohli were fined their entire match fees for the altercation that took place as a breach of IPL's Article 2.1, pertaining to the expected code of conduct. 

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