Robin Uthappa was not happy with Virat Kohli’s celebration against LSG (Sportzpix)
After Virat Kohli’s fiery celebration against LSG, Robin Uthappa gives his verdict on the heated argument between Kohli, Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq
Royal Challengers Bangalore produced a scintillating performance to beat Lucknow Super Giants by 18 runs in a low-scoring IPL 2023 encounter at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Monday night.
Batting first, RCB scored 126/9 in 20 overs which was briefly interrupted by rain. Captain Faf du Plessis emerged as the top scorer with 44 while his opening partner Virat Kohli Contributed 31. Both added 62 runs in nine overs.
RCB bowlers fired on all cylinders after the innings break and bowled out LSG for 108 in 19.5 overs on a pitch that was sluggish and made life difficult for the batsmen. The fact that LSG captain KL Rahul was injured while fielding and came out to bat only after nine wickets had fallen, with his team needing 24 off 8 balls, didn’t help. Spinner Karn Sharma and fast bowler Josh Hazlewood emerged as the best bowlers for RCB with 2/20 and 2/15 respectively.
Read this also Naveen-ul-Haq angry at Virat Kohli
JioCinema TATA IPL expert Robin Uthappa was extremely impressed with the spinner’s performance, saying: “He was dropped after doing so well, especially getting wickets in Bangalore. Not very expensive but still getting wickets.” Which is important in Bangalore. He didn’t find a place in the team after Hasaranga came into the XI. You can’t have too many leg-spinners in a T20 game, can you?”
Meanwhile, some heated arguments between Kohli and former India opener Gautam Gambhir – who is now the mentor of the LSG team – were witnessed after the match, about which JioCinema TATA IPL expert Anil Kumble was not impressed. He added: “A lot of emotions go in but you don’t want to show those emotions here. It’s important, you need to have a conversation. But it’s something that’s unacceptable.”
IPL 2023: orange cap Check out the full list of batsmen with the most runs here
“Whatever happens, you have to respect the opposition and the game. Once the game is over, you have to shake hands and tip your hat, not to the player but to the game because it’s something you need to respect… I don’t know what was spoken Some things can get personal and you don’t want that on the cricket field. But with Gautam and Virat and the players involved, it was not the best thing to see,” he said.
Robin Uthappa also admitted that while he is a big fan of Kohli, he was not sure about the former RCB skipper’s wild celebration.
IPL 2023: purple cap See the full list of bowlers with the most wickets here
“I am a big fan of Virat Kohli but not his celebration,” Uthappa told GeoCinema.
Meanwhile, on Rahul’s injury, Kumble said, “If KL was probably fit, we would have seen a different story here, especially on a surface like this.”
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