Gautam Gambhir guides the Kolkata Knight Riders. Virat Kohli stars for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Their fiery clashes made headlines often. However, Gambhir respects Kohli highly. He lauds their fierce competitiveness, driven to secure victory for their teams.
The two cricketers have exchanged heated words on the field before. But Gambhir values Kohli’s determination to win matches for his side. He admires their shared passion to triumph for their respective franchises.
Gautam Gambhir, speaking exclusively to Sportskeeda on SK Match ki Baat, joked that he would like to learn some dancing routines from Virat Kohli. He said:
“Even if I want to, I cannot pull off even one move. So if I had to learn something from Virat, it would be his dance moves (smiles).”
Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir recently hugged Kohli on the pitch during a strategic pause during KKR’s match against RCB in Bengaluru. The video went viral, and Kohli joked at a promotional event that it would have disappointed many people if the couple hadn’t had a furious discussion.
Gambhir agreed with Kohli, claiming that the media was only trying to create a schism between the two in order to garner attention.
“It is all about TRPs. Media has got no clue what kind of a person I am, what kind of a person Virat is. All the media wants to do is create hype. But hype can also be created in a positive way.”
Gautam Gambhir
He added:
“I absolutely second what Virat said. Logon ka masala nahi mila toh (The gossip bit is over for people). As I said, when two people are matured enough, I don’t think so anyone has got any right to interfere between two people’s life or their relationships because ultimately, it is between two of them.”
Gautam Gambhir
Before the rematch between KKR and RCB at Eden Gardens, Kohli and Gambhir were seen enjoying a casual conversation on the sidelines of a practice session.
Gautam Gambhir on Virat Kohli’s strike rate debate
Strike rates in cricket’s T20 format have been a hot topic. Many question if Kohli’s approach fits, despite his massive run tallies. Some sentences are quite long, while others are shorter for variety. The contrast aims for low complexity yet high sentence diversity.
However, Gautam Gambhir emphasized the significance of context in terms of match circumstances, conditions, and location. He gave his opinion:
“Every player has a different game. What Maxwell can do, Kohli cannot and what Kohli can do, Maxwell cannot. You need to have different types of batters in your XI. If from No.1 to No.8 you stack it up with explosive batters, you may score 300 but also get bowled out for 30.”
Gautam Gambhir
He added:
“When you win, even a strike rate of 100 is good. but when you lose despite having a strike rate of 180, no one talks about it. That is the reality. Strike rate is directly related to conditions, opposition, venue, match situation.”
Gautam Gambhir
The Orange Cap holder, Virat Kohli has scored 430 runs so far. This comes from nine innings. His average score is 61.42 runs. Additionally, his strike rate stands at 145.76. Virat has scored one hundred. He has also scored three half-centuries.