Well every cricket loving Indian fan remembers the famous Virat Kohli- Gautam Gambhir’s ugly spat that took place in the IPL in April 2013. This incident became the most sought after news of the IPL. Earlier, short tempered Gautam Gambhir had verbal spat with Rahul Dravid and Harbhajan Singh too. Even before that, in November 2007, Gautam Gambhir had a verbal spat with Shahid Afridi of Pakistan in an ODI being played at Kanpur.
There is nothing abnormal when a cricketer is provoked out by another in any match, very often through a remarks or gesture, which triggers the tension as a result of which such incidents take place. However when a seasoned cricket of the stature of Gautam Gambhir is seen involved with a junior in any Ranji Trophy match, people normally see this as a show of frustration of being neglected by the selectors of the national team.
On Thursday Gautam Gambhir who is now the captain of Delhi in the Ranji Trophy lost his cool on field and got involved in a verbal spat with Mumbai player Shardul Thakur during the Ranji Trophy quarter finals clash in Cuttack.
On Friday, Mumbai had achieved an outright victory against Gambhir’s Delhi and Thakur was reprimanded. Thakur’s 50 per cent match fee was deducted by the match officials but Gambhir walked away freely.
The incident took place when Gambhir had to move back to the pavilion after being trapped leg by Shardul. Shardul pitched one outside the off-stump and got Gambhir playing the wrong line. The umpire gave the decision in favour of Shardul and said that it was time for Gambhir to walk back to the pavilion.
However Gautam Gambhir was seemingly unhappy with the umpire’s decision. As Gambhir was walking back towards the dressing room Shardul made a few remarks which irked the Delhi’s aggressive captain. Gambhir walked back towards Thakur with a semi-raised bat. However foreseeing trouble, the Mumbai team members stepped in to diffuse the tension and were able to avoid any untoward incident.
During this season only Mumbai skipper Surya Kumar Yadav also had issues with Shardul, but that didn’t take any ugly turn. Overall it does not appear appropriate that a seasoned player like Gautam Gambhir gets irked by smallest provocation which very often leads to his involvement in one or other spat. One should be cautious with his image.