‘Someone Like Dhoni Knows’: Shastri To Kohli After Gambhir, Ganguly Incidents

IPL 2023 has undoubtedly been one of the most entertaining and competitive editions of the tournament. It has witnessed the most number of 200-plus totals, and 200-plus chases with five venues witnessing it for the first time in their IPL history.

Yet, there were two non-cricketing moments that left social media abuzz and world cricket talking the most, and both involved RCB star Virat Kohli. The first was a no-handshake incident, preceded by a viral video of a death stare from Kohli to Delhi Capitals’ director of cricket Sourav Ganguly.

The other was the infamous spat between Kohli and Lucknow Super Giants mentor Guatam Gambhir earlier this month. In the wake of the two incidents, former India head coach Ravi Shastri gave an ultimatum to Kohli with examples of legendary cricketers in MS Dhoni and Sachin Tendulkar.

On April 15, in the Chinnaswamy clash between RCB and DC, Kohli had thrown not one but two stare downs at Ganguly during the game. After the match, Ganguly had jumped the queue to avoid a handshake with Kohli. The two later unfollowed each other on Instagram which further highlighted that all is still not well between the two stalwarts of Indian cricket, and the present incident is only an extension of what had unfolded in December 2021 when Ganguly was the BCCI president.

Later on May 1, Kohli had entered into a heated conversation with Gambhir at the Ekana Stadium after RCB’s 18-run win against LSG. During that same match, there was a flashpoint between Kohli and LSG’s Naveen-ul-Haq as well which as followed by an intense handshake after the end of the match which required Glenn Maxwell to step in.

Given the incidents, cameramen seem to have a special focus on Kohli and his acts in the post-match proceedings which includes handshake with other players and his interaction with players from the opposition sides.

Speaking to ESPNCricinfo, Shastri explained that legends like Dhoni and Sachin faced the same as well given their contribution to the game, but they were extremely professional in handling that. He hence advised Kohli to be “careful” and mindful of the camera after the match especially after what happened in Lucknow last 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,” said.

As for Ganguly, the pair seems to have buried the hatchet as camera did catch them shaking hands after the recent RCB-DC clash in Delhi last week. And the act was hailed by many on social media as well.