PHOTO
Royal Challengers Bangalore's Virat Kohli walks back to the pavilion after his dismissal during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on May 6, 2023. (Photo by Money SHARMA / AFP)
After much conjecture, the alleged rift between Indian cricket heroes Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly has finally reached a surprising conclusion.
The feud between the two sportsmen has been widely reported on in the past, stemming from Kohli's removal from ODI captaincy in 2021 which sparked a verbal spat between him and the BCCI administration, headed at the time by Ganguly. However, rumours of their rift made the rounds once again last month, following Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals' IPL 2023 clash.
After RCB's 23-run victory over Delhi Capitals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, three videos from the match quickly went viral on social media. The first showed Kohli staring Ganguly down while the latter was sitting in the DC dugout, two overs before RCB's triumph. The second video captured the DC director of cricket bypassing coach Ricky Ponting to greet the RCB players — and in the process, skipping a handshake with Kohli.
The next day, a new video surfaced from the same game, where Ganguly appeared to ignore Kohli as he sat ready to open for the match. The footage showed Ganguly appearing to blatantly ignore Kohli, while other DC players and support staff greeted the batter – in response, the former RCB skipper levels a menacing stare towards the DC director.
Now, however, the two stalwarts of Indian cricket appear to have buried the hatchet. After DC's win at home by seven wickets against RCB on Saturday, Kohli and Ganguly were seen shaking hands with each other, with Ganguly even giving Kohli a friendly pat on the bat.
Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli shake hands after the match🤝#SouravGanguly #ViratKohli #Cricket #T20 #IndianCricket #Bangalore #Delhi #SKY247 pic.twitter.com/RqGiYoWpRg
— Sky247 (@officialsky247) May 6, 2023
Twitter users applauded the cricketers for their 'maturity', responding with delight to the 'milestone', as their rift appears to finally be put to rest. 'The moment all cricket fans were waiting for', tweeted one user.
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