Virat Kohli is one of the biggest names in Indian cricket over the past decade and a half. The rise of the Delhi-born cricketer to a world-beater sportsman and a world-famous personality has been nothing short of an astonishing dream.
Amid this, Virat had his fair share of controversies. First with opponents and then with his own countrymen as well. The stylish, charismatic former Indian skipper, Kohli has been involved in some major, jaw-dropping controversies with ex-Indian players.
Here are 3 former Indian cricketers who were involved in controversies with Virat Kohli:
Sourav Ganguly
The Ganguly-Kohli saga was seen in the corporate world as an employee taking on his boss. During his last phase as the BCCI President, Sourav Ganguly seemed to have fallen out with Kohli, and that to in public.
Ganguly had said that he’d asked Kohli to take his decision of stepping down as India’s T20I skipper back in 2021, while a few months later, Kohli denied Ganguly’s comments, contradictorily saying that his decision was only well received and nobody asked him to take back his call. Kohli was then sacked as the ODI captain by the Chetan Sharma-led selection panel. There are also reports of Ganguly making himself present in the selection meetings.
Recently, when Ganguly and Kohli met in the IPL – Kohli playing for RCB and Ganguly in the Delhi Capitals dugout – Kohli gave Ganguly a hard death stare and celebrated his half-century animatedly while both later also didn’t shake hands.
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble had an unceremonious exit as India’s head coach following the loss in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy. It is reported that Kumble and Kohli had a blowout in the dressing with the coach wanting to play Kuldeep Yadav but the skipper was not happy with the coaching running the orders.
It has been alleged that he had a big hand in Kumble being sacked as the head coach in 2017. In his resignation, Kumble said that his partnership with skipper Kohli had become “untenable” and that “the captain had reservations with my style and about my continuing as head coach”.
Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir and Kohli’s scuffle happened right in the middle of the ground with millions of eyes on them. During an IPL 2013 match between RCB and KKR, in the time when Gambhir was discarded from the Indian team and Kohli was on the rise having taken the number 3 spot of Gambhir’s in ODIs, the duo clashed with expletives being hurled from both sides.
After his retirement, Gambhir has regularly launched attacks on Kohli about his T20 ‘intent’ game, or his slump in form, and has often hogged headlines with the mentions of Virat Kohli.
