‘If you don’t learn then another fine will be around the corner or a suspension’ - Ravi Shastri gives his blatant take on Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli's on-field spat

Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli’s verbal spat during Lucknow Super Giants’ match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 1, is still the talk of the town. Notably, after the conclusion of the match, Kohli got involved in a war of words with LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq but Gambhir eventually got in the way as they both were spotted having a heated argument as it resulted in them having fined 100% of their match fees. 

Talking about the entire saga, former India head coach Ravi Shastri mentioned the cricketers need to be aware that there are cameras and how they should behave on a cricket field. He also warned Gambhir and Kohli that if something like this repeats in the future, these two can very well get suspended as well.

Furthermore, giving his blatant take on the entire matter, Shastri seemed in favour of penalizing players heavily if found to be engaged in spats while on the field especially on more than one occasion. He also pointed out fans questioning why the fight was shown on live telecast which complicated the matter further. However, Shastri seemed in favour of it by saying that it will lead the players to realize their mistakes and keep their behaviour under check due to live telecast.

Have I used abusive language? Was my body language not right?: Shastri

Ravi Shastri cited the key reasons being the use of foul language or the aspect of the body language of the player in concern. Moreover, the former Indian head coach also advocated for suspending players should they misconduct themselves repeatedly and not just leave it to paying a fine.

“You need a little bit of confrontation on the field. Where you draw the line, the match referee is there to see the line. When you’re fined, once or twice you will be ok. A lot of people told me, this is IPL. This is a live telecast. Why were they showing two players fighting? Ok, fair point. Because the world saw it. Now, I will tell you the positive in that,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo.

“By seeing that, both the players will behave differently the next time. Because they will know there is a camera on them all the time. Then they will do the right thing for the massive audience that is watching. Kids, parents, friends. You then know what is the line. Have I used abusive language? Was my body language not right? Was that in the spirit of the game? Did I come across as a bad loser? All these things immediately come to the fore once you watch that footage and then you learn. If you don’t learn then another fine will be around the corner or a suspension,” the 60-year-old added.

Notably, both RCB and LSG are yet to cement their place in the IPL playoffs. In order to do so, LSG will have to beat KKR in their next match while RCB will have to beat SRH and GT in their remaining two matches.