Why Gavaskar wants stricter punishment for Kohli, Gambhir

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has questioned if fines were enough to guarantee that on-field spats between players would not take place again.

He made the comments with reference to an ugly spat between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir after the match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Ekana Stadium. Videos of the infamous altercation went viral on social media with the players extending their war to Instagram while BCCI played the part by handing hefty fines. 

“Well, I saw the visuals only a while ago, I did not see the match live yesterday. These things never look good. What is a 100 per cent match fee? What exactly is a 100 per cent match fee? If it is Kohli, who is on maybe ₹17 crore for RCB, which means ₹17 crore for a possible 16 matches, including the semi-finals, and finals. So you are talking about a crore of rupees. Is he going to be fined ₹1 crore and more? Well, that’s a very, very stiff fine,” Gavaskar said.

“I don’t know what Gambhir’s situation is. They should ensure that this is not repeated. You are hoping that this is not repeated because it’s such a stiff fine, such a stiff punishment. You want to play it hard, play it competitively. During the time that we played, there was a bit of banter, but there was none of this aggression that we see now. A lot of it has got to do with the fact that everything is on TV too. Because of the fact that you are on TV, you tend to do maybe just that little bit extra,” he added.

BCCI on Tuesday charged Kohli and Gambhir their entire match fees as a penalty for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. However Gavaskar, in conversation with Star Sports, called for stricter measures to ensure that such fights do not take place in the future.