• Faf holds back fiery Kohli during post-match IPL row

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    Virat Kohli has been fined for the second time in this IPL season after a post-match altercation with former national teammate Gautam Gambhir.

    Both were docked their entire match fee, the IPL said, while Naveen-ul-Haq was fined 50% of his for breaching the league’s code of conduct.

    Kohli and Afghan bowler Naveen were seen having sharp words on the field during a tense match between Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants on Monday.

    Kohli, who has often run into trouble with his aggressive approach, had to be restrained by opposition batsman Amit Mishra during the match. Bangalore eventually won by 18 runs.

    Afterwards, Lucknow’s Kyle Mayers had to be led away from an exchange with Kohli before other players tried unsuccessfully to stop a visibly furious Gambhir, Lucknow’s team mentor, from confronting him.

    Kohli took to social media on Tuesday with a cryptic Instagram post quoting a famed Roman emperor and philosopher: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. – Marcus Aurelius.”

    Gambhir and Kohli, who played together when India won the 2011 World Cup, had a shouting match before Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis intervened.

    The former national teammates were also involved in an ugly on-field exchange in a 2013 IPL match.

    The 41-year-old Gambhir has become an MP for India’s Hindu-nationalist ruling BJP party since retiring from cricket in 2018.

    This was Kohli’s second offence this season after he was fined 10% of his match fee for his conduct during Bangalore’s loss to the Chennai Super Kings last month.

    © Agence France-Presse

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    Simon Borchardt