In a video which has gone viral, Kohli can be seen shaking hands with Ponting before quickly moving away, apparently to avoid any contact with Ganguly who was walking behind the DC coach during the ceremonial handshake between two teams after the match.
As Kohli tried walking away, Ponting can be seen stopping him and saying something while pointing towards Ganguly who smiles and goes past him to shake hands with other RCB players in the cue. Here’s the video:
Virat kohli Ignore Ganguly not even handshake .its call karma ganguly never mess with king kohli👍👍👍 pic.twitter.com/IeHjmvI32S
— Radhe krishna🇮🇳 (@king_Virat140) April 15, 2023
Virat Kohli stares at Sourav Ganguly. Moment of the Match. King Kohliiiiii. 💉💉💉💉❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/MphUgmEpUV
— S. (@Sobuujj) April 15, 2023
Notably, the relation between Kohli and Ganguly strained after the sacking of the former as the India ODI captain. Ganguly in an interview said that he “personally requested Kohli to carry on as the T20I captain but the 34-year-old did not consider his suggestion.
According to Ganguly the selectors wanted one captain for the Indian white-ball side and had Kohli listened to him, he would not have been sacked as the ODI captain.
“It’s like I said… I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up the T20I captaincy. Obviously, he felt the workload. Which is fine, he has been a great cricketer, he has been very intense with his cricket. He has captained for a long period of time and these things happen. Because I have captained for a long period of time; therefore, I know,” Ganguly had told News 18 after Rohit was awarded the ODI captaincy.
Kohli later dropped a bombshell ahead of India’s departure for the tour of South Africa, saying that nobody asked him to reconsider his decision. He had also added that the decision to remove him as the ODI captain also came abruptly to him.
“I was contacted 1.5 hours before the selection meeting on the eighth [December] for the Test series. There was no prior communication to me at all since I announced the T20I captaincy decision until the 8th of December, where I got a call before the selection meeting. The chief selector discussed with me the Test team, to which we both agreed. And before ending the call, I was told the five selectors have decided I will not be the ODI captain, to which I replied, ‘okay, fine’,” Kohli had said in the press conference.
“When I approached BCCI about the T20 captaincy, it was received well by them and I was not told not to leave the T20 captaincy,” he had added, calling out Ganguly’s lies out in the open.
In another twist to the episode, Chetan Sharma – the BCCI chief selector, during a sting operation this year, was heard saying that Kohli had started considering himself bigger than the board and game, and had tried to “hit back” at the former BCCI president as he felt that Ganguly had removed him from the ODI captaincy.
Talking about the match, Kohli was adjudged Man of the Match for his 34-ball 50 which helped RCB post 174/6 in 20 overs.
