Shillong, April 18: The rift between the two top Indian cricketing stalwarts Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly has widened after their videos during IPL cricket match went viral.
Three videos from the IPL 2023 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday went viral. Sourav Ganguly also unfollowed Virat Kohli on social media.
The former BCCI president’s action also demonstrates the widening of division between the two titans of Indian cricket.
Two videos went viral on social media on Saturday, just after RCB defeated Delhi Capitals by a score of 23 runs at the Chinnaswamy, and they ultimately became the focus of the game. Two overs prior to RCB’s victory, Kohli was spotted giving Ganguly, who was seated inside the DC dug out, a tough look in the first. In the second video, the DC director of cricket can be seen skipping Kohli in line to meet the rest of the RCB players and avoiding a handshake with him.
On Monday, in advance of RCB’s third home game against the Chennai Super Kings, a brand-new, previously unreleased footage from the DC game that showed Ganguly flagrantly disregarding Kohli, who was sat and fully clothed before the game began, went popular on Twitter. The former RCB captain then gave the player a nasty look.
The rift between the two renowned cricketers was confirmed when Kohli unfollowed Ganguly on Instagram between the two days. Although Ganguly continued to follow Kohli on that social networking platform up until Sunday, on Monday he unfollowed the Indian batter.
While neither party has issued a statement regarding their behaviour or the viral footage, the plethora of incidents clearly shows that no one has moved past the controversy that began in November 2021 with Kohli’s ouster as ODI captain. In response, the two engaged in a verbal battle in the media, which ultimately resulted in Kohli resigning as Test captain in January 2022.