Dinesh Karthik in a video posted by RCB© X (Twitter)
Former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) star Gautam Gambhir welcomes his old franchise as a Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) player at the M Chinnaswamy stadium on Friday. Ahead of the high-profile encounter, Karthik gave his verdict on the key match-ups for the Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers encounter, putting Gambhir and Kohli when it came to picking his duel number one in the match. The remark from Karthik is in reference to what transpired between the two former India teammates during a clash between RCB and Lucknow Super Giants.
Kohli and Gambhir had famously come to blows after an initial argument on the field between the RCB stalwart and LSG pacer Naveen-ul-Haq. Gambhir then intervened, backing Naveen and ended up indulging in a heated exchange with Kohli.
The IPL 2023 saga became arguably the most talked-about topic of the event. Karthik, jokingly, expects Kohli vs Gambhir 2.0 as KKR take on RCB on Friday night.
“Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir (smiles). Mitchell Starc to Glenn Maxwell will be very interesting. Varun Chakravarthy to me (Dinesh Karthik) will be very interesting,” Karthik said in RCB’s match preview on Friday, 29 March.
It’s a blockbuster Friday night! Get ready for #RCBvKKR at Namma Chinnaswamy stadium. DK, Siraj, Mayank and Coach Griff preview the game, on @bigbasket_com presents Game Day!
Download the Big Basket App now. #PlayBold #RCB #IPL2024 #RCBvKKR pic.twitter.com/sFKkUc8UMq
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) March 29, 2024
“It is not about Naveen-ul-Haq. I would have defended any player, that is my job, that is how I am. Why should I not defend my players just because someone has a broadcaster working for him, left right and centre, someone who has more social media presence doesn’t have any right to walk over someone. If I cannot stand with my players, then I have no right to be in that dressing room,” Gambhir had said on the infamous on-field incident a while ago.
While Kohli and Naveen have already settled their differences when India and Afghanistan came head-to-head in a T20 international a few months ago, the same can’t be said about Gambhir and the RCB star with certainity.
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