Former India batter Gautam Gambhir has opened up on his spat with superstar batter Virat Kohli, saying no one can walk over his players. Gambhir and Kohli were involved in an altercation during a league-stage match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants during IPL 2023.

Both Kohli and Gambhir had a heated exchange of words following the match. The situation got bad to the extent that other players, including Amit Mishra, had to intervene to bring back normalcy.

Speaking on ‘ANI Podcast with Smita Prakash’, Gambhir said he would have defended any player in his team. Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100 percent of their match fees after breaching the IPL’s Code of Conduct. Both of them pleaded guilty to their charges and a formal hearing wasn’t needed.

“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,” said Gambhir.

He went on to say that once the match was over he had all the right to defend his player and would do so in the future as well. Gambhir has since moved on from LSG, joining former side Kolkata Knight Riders as a mentor for the 2024 season.

“As a mentor, no one can come and walk over my players. Till the time game was on, I didn’t have the right to interfere but once the game was over if someone gets into a heated argument, I have got all the right to defend my players and in future also if something like that happens, I will defend my players,” Gambhir added.

Gambhir was also recently involved in a war of words with former India pacer Sreesanth in the ongoing Legends League Cricket.