Last month when Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) hosted the Delhi Capitals (DC), in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match no. 20, there were some awkward scenes on display at the Chinnaswamy stadium. The cameras captured Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli in the same frame. While the RCB player was fielding near the boundary line, DC’s Head of Cricket Operations was seated at the dugout with a palm face as his team was getting mauled by the hosts.
It seemed like Kohli gave a ‘death stare’ to Ganguly as RCB were on top of the game. The two stalwarts of Indian cricket reportedly share a cold relationship, ever since Kohli was sacked as the Indian skipper when Ganguly was the BCCI chief, and their statements on the incident contradicted each other. Later, a video also surfaced on social media in which Ganguly was seen jumping the queue, denying shaking hands with Kohli after the game. And after the recent altercation between the ex-RCB skipper and Lucknow mentor Gautam Gambhir, the fans must have speculated something to happen in Delhi as well.
But to everyone’s surprise, it was a happy-go-lucky environment at Kotla on Saturday night. DC chased down a mammoth 180-run target with 20 balls to spare and 7 wickets in hand. After the game, both Kohli and Ganguly shook hands with a smile on their faces.
Handshake between Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly. pic.twitter.com/j0LGdxxP6A
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 6, 2023
On the other hand, Phil Salt and Mohammed Siraj, who had a verbal spat during the 4th over of DC’s chase, hugged each other warmly. The two had a heated exchange after the Englishman smashed the Indian quick for a couple of sixes on consecutive deliveries and followed it up with a boundary. Siraj was seen pointing his finger at Salt with a frustrated expression on his face. Warner intervened and tried to settle the issue before the umpire had a word with the players.