Reports: Virat Kohli writes to BCCI officials explaining his altercation with Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq

The 43rd game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 featured a thrilling clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana Sports City Stadium on Monday, May 1. However, more than Bangalore’s win, the heated altercation between ace batter Virat Kohli and several Lucknow players along with mentor Gautam Gambhir has been talked about more.

A lot has been reported and spoken about the heated altercation recently, and over five days after the incident, Dainik Jagran reported that Kohli wrote to several BCCI officials and explained the situation.

According to the reports, Kohli expressed his disappointment over the fine that the BCCI imposed on him. He even opined that he did not do anything to Naveen-ul-Haq or Gambhir to attract such a fine from the board. The argument between Gambhir and Kohli was deemed a level 2 offence and was found to have breached the IPL Code of Conduct, and both were fined 100% of their match fees from the game as well.

It was reported that the 34-year-old's aggression towards Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, and Naveen-ul-Haq was the cause of the altercation. Furthermore, as Bangalore pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled constant bouncers to the Afghanistan pacer towards the end of the run chase, Kohli, in the report, opined that he did not instruct Siraj to hit Naveen, but only told him to bowl bouncers.

With Naveen being fined 50% of his match fees for his behaviour towards the ace Indian batter, Kohli complained about the 23-year-old’s aggressiveness towards him as well. With Mayers confronting Kohli after the game for abusing him, Lucknow mentor Gautam Gambhir stepped in and took Mayers away from Kohli, which ignited the argument between the two of them.

Even after the incident, LSG skipper KL Rahul was seen pacifying the situation with Kohli on the sidelines and asked Naveen-ul-Haq to settle things with the ace batter. However, the LSG pacer denied his skipper completely and went ahead.