IPL 2023: Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli fined 100 percent of match fees for breaching IPL Code of Conduct

Lucknow Super Giants’ Mentor Gautam Gambhir has been fined 100 percent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Gambhir admitted to the Level 2 offense under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct. Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli has been fined 100 percent of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow.

Virat Kohli admitted to the Level 2 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct. Lucknow Super Giants’ Bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has been fined 50 percent of his match fees for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow. Naveen-ul-Haq admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct.

The rain-delayed match played at Ekana Stadium between LSG and RCB turned out to be a thrilling affair in many aspects. After RCB won the low-scoring game by 18 runs, several moments grabbed too much attention with Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir engaging in a verbal spat being the top one. However, after the  Virat Kohli-Gambhir drama got over, KL Rahul was seen having a word with Kohli on the sidelines to settle things.

The LSG skipper called out Naveen-ul-Haq to probably apologize to Virat Kohli as he had a heated moment with the RCB star while players were engaged in a handshake after the match. However, in a weird turn of events, Naveen refused KL and went ahead on the field. While Naveen-ul-Haq didn’t obey his skipper, Kohli looked absolutely enraged seeing the former’s actions.

After the match got over, Kyle Mayers was also seen having a word with Virat Kohli and while the conversation got heated, Gambhir jumped in to make the matter worse. The players involved in the spat were restricted by several teammates but the incident certainly took an ugly turn on the field. Talking about the match, RCB posted 126 runs in a rain-delayed on the back of Du Plessis’ 44 as Naveen-ul-Haq picked three wickets for LSG. However, LSG failed to cross the line while chasing a below-par total as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals of time and got bundled on 108 runs. Krishnappa Gowtham’s 23 runs were the highest individual score from LSG’s batting lineup. 

Star cricketer Virat Kohli once again put his excellent athleticism on display as he took a sensational catch during Match 43 of IPL 2023 against Lucknow Super Giants. During the second innings, LSG were chasing a target of 127 and were 21/2 after four overs with Ayush Badoni and Deepak Hooda at the crease. On the first ball of the fifth over bowled by Josh Hazlewood, Badoni played an uppish drive which went in the air to Kohli who was coming in from covers and jumped to his full height to take an exceptional catch. 

After completing the catch, Virat Kohli blew a kiss in celebration and asked the crowd to cheer loudly for them. Kohli’s celebration is being assumed as a reply to Gautam Gambhir’s gesture of silencing the crowd at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium after LSG’s emphatic win over RCB in Match 15 of the season.

On his return to professional cricket after an Achilles injury, Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood picked up two wickets while giving away just 15 runs in his three overs as Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs at the latter’s home ground. Notably, batting first, the Faf du Plessis-led side posted only 126 runs and thus, they needed something extraordinary with the ball in order to win the match. Notably, RCB picked up four wickets in the powerplay and that set the tone of the innings as LSG batters struggled throughout the night.

RCB defeat LSG in low-scoring reverse fixture

Coming back to the match, RCB’s bowling attack was all over LSG’s batting right from the word go as Mohammed Siraj once again struck with the new ball and dismissed the dangerous Kyle Mayers on the second ball of the innings.  From there on, Lucknow’s batting fell like a house of cards and were reduced to 77/8 after 14.4 overs. Amit Mishra (19 off 30) and Naveen-ul-Haq (13 off 13) added some runs at the death but they weren’t enough to take their team home.

As a result, LSG were bundled out for 108, handing an 18-run victory to RCB. Josh Hazlewood (2/15, 3 overs) and Karn Sharma (2/20) were the pick of the bowlers for RCB. Virat Kohli and Faf du plesis started the proceedings for RCB, but in the middle the team lost quick wickets.

Krishnappa Gowtham tried to fight back in the middle but the 34-year-old eventually got involved in a run-out incident and post that, it was RCB’s game to lose. Alongside Hazlewood, Karn Sharma picked up two wickets as well, while Mohammed Siraj, Glenn Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga and Harshal Patel picked up one each. Meanwhile, analysing their performance against LSG, Hazlewood stated that it’s good for the bowlers to occasionally bowl on a pitch that favours them and also talked about how Siraj gave RCB a perfect start in the first over. Virat Kohli is a star batsman.

“It was a good change-up. We have played a lot of cricket at Chinnaswammy, which has been a batting paradise. I think it’s good to have occasionally one for the bowlers in a low-scoring affair. It was quite a tight match and exciting as well. One team was really never out of it,” Hazlewood was quoted as saying by India Today. “It started in Siraj’s first over.

I think a wicket and one run offered. It was a great start and we sort of and we sort of jumped on the back of that. I think at half time we knew we were still in the game, it was a tough wicket to bat on. We knew that we had to bowl them out to win the game. If they had seven-eight batters bat the 20 overs, they were going to get 130 runs. It was all about attacking and taking wickets,” he added.