Rajat Bhatia Sheds Light On The Verbal Altercation Between Virat Kohli And Gautam Gambhir In IPL 2013

Former Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) player Rajat Bhatia has opened up on the heated incident between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir in the 2013 Indian Premier League. In the match between KKR and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, the captains of two sides involved in a verbal war. Bangalore went on to pull off a comfortable victory at the end.

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The sixth season of the cash-rich league hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Apart from the Kohli-Gambhir verbal spat, the spot-fixing row also broke out in which the likes of S Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan, and Ajit Chandila faced severe punishments for their wrong-doings. Mumbai Indians clinched their first title in that edition by beating the Chennai Super Kings.

After seven years, Rajat Bhatia has spoken about that particular incident in detail. The all-rounder conceded that it took place since two aggressive captains were battling hard for their teams to gain a victory. Bhatia acknowledged that whatever transpired was only a part of the game.

“That is something which happened when two aggressive captains played and they always want to give their best and win for their respective teams. Even if they had any kind of collision in that match, it was just a part of the game,” Bhatia stated as quoted by Hindustan Times.

The 40-year old went on to state that the pair never engaged in a fight after that. The medium-pace bowler added that it happened in the heat of the moment; however, admitting that things should not escalate for the worse.

“Later, I have never seen them (Gambhir and Kohli) fighting. In the heat of the moment, so many things happen. But, it shouldn’t be happening for the worse. And on that day, it was not,”

I think this is one of the things every player should learn from Virat Kohli: Rajat Bhatia

The Delhi-born domestic veteran moved on to appreciate Kohli’s greatness as of now in the batting department, commending his hunger for runs. Rajat Bhatia credits his insatiable appetite for runs as the reason why he is the best batsmen at present.

“The best part about Virat Kohli is he is always hungry to score runs. And, that hunger never looked to end. That is why he is the best batsman at the moment. He knew that he has to perform and never stop,”

Rajat Bhatia cited that the Indian captain does what every player must be doing which is to step up every time in terms of performance.

I think this is one of the things every player should learn from Virat Kohli. Every player who plays for the country should remember that he should keep performing. That is what Kohli is doing at the moment,” Rajat Bhatia concluded.

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