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Former India batter Gautam Gambhir opened up on the infamous fight between India batter Virat Kohli and Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq during the IPL 2023. Gambhir who was the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants got involved in the verbal altercation between Kohli and Naveen. The former India opener engaged in a verbal spat with Kohli after the former RCB skipper’s verbal fight with Naveen.
A few months down the line, Gambhir opened up on the incident and said that as a mentor, he couldn’t bear anyone coming to his players and fighting with them. The cricketer-turned-commentator also said that being the mentor of the team, he has the right to defend the players after the game. He was on an ANI podcast, where he said, “As a mentor, no one can come and walk over my players and I’ve got a very different belief.”
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The 42-year-old added, “Till the time game was on, I had no right to interfere but once the game was over, if someone still gets into a heated argument with my players, I’ve got all the rights to defend them.” Notably, Naveen and Kohli patched things up during the ODI World Cup 2023 group-stage clash between India and Afghanistan.
Coming back to Gambhir, the 2023 season was his last season as the LSG’s mentor. Ahead of the next edition of the tournament, Gambhir joined the Kolkata Knight Riders as their new mentor. The 2011 World Cup winner led KKR from 2011 to 2017 while leading them to the title win in the 2012 and 2014 seasons.
