Ravi Shastri issued an ultimatum to Kohli following the IPL 2023 incident, telling him to take a cue from Dhoni
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After the two incidences, former India head coach Shastri offered Virat an ultimatum, citing Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni as two illustrious players as examples.
Unquestionably, the IPL 2023 season was one of the most exciting and competitive ones yet. The most 200+ totals and 200+ chases have ever been recorded, with five venues seeing them for the first time ever in IPL history. Virat, the star of the RCB, was involved in both of the non-cricketing incidents that caused the most noise on social media and in the world of cricket.
Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly didn’t shake hands 🤯🤯
— InsideSport (@InsideSportIND) April 15, 2023
#Cricket #ViratKohli #IPL2023 #RCBvsDC pic.twitter.com/xh9exnrbx2
A viral video of Virat giving Delhi Capitals director of cricket Sourav Ganguly the death gaze came before the first incident, which was no handshake. The other being earlier this month’s infamous altercation between Guatam Gambhir, the coach of the Lucknow Super Giants, and Virat. Following the two incidences, former India head coach Shastri issued Kohli an ultimatum, citing the likes of MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar as examples of legendary cricketers.
Virat gave Ganguly not one, but two stare-downs on April 15 during the Chinnaswamy match between RCB and DC. To avoid shaking hands with Virat after the game, Ganguly skipped the line. The two afterwards stopped following each other on Instagram, highlighting the fact that things are still not right between the two legendary players in Indian cricket and that the current incident is only a continuation of the events that took place in December 2021 when Ganguly was the BCCI president.
After RCB’s 18-run victory over LSG later that day (May 1), Virat and Gambhir got into a furious exchange at the Ekana Stadium. Glenn Maxwell had to intervene after Virat and LSG’s Naveen-ul-Haq got into a fight during the same game, which was followed by a heated handshake after the game. Given the occurrences, cameramen appear to be paying particular attention to Virat and his actions during the post-match celebrations, including his handshakes with other players and his interactions with members of the opposing teams.
Shastri told ESPNCricinfo that because of their contributions to the game, legends like Mahendra Singh and Sachin experienced the same things, but they handled it very professionally. Thus, after the game, he urged Kohli to be “careful” and aware of the camera, especially in light of what transpired in Lucknow the previous week.
“After the sequence of events last week, someone like a Kohli, someone like a Dhoni…Dhoni knows, he’s a pro, that there is a camera on you and that is because you guys deserve it after what you guys contributed to the game. There will a camera on you, like there was on Sachin Tendulkar. Remember once the game is over, the camera is on you all the time until you get into that dressing room. You need to be careful, it’s like you are flagged off. If you have that in your mindset…camera, and once the game is over, you will be fine. You can get a lot of brownie points using that camera,” remarked.
Regarding Ganguly, the two appear to have put their differences behind them as video of their handshake following the previous RCB-DC match in Delhi last week shows. And numerous people praised the deed on social media.
