A Faustian bargain?

If the Indian Premier League needed much more action other than crackling fours and sixes, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli have provided it. The country’s premier domestic T20 league is now entering the business phase. Contenders will be separated from the pretenders and the teams which have been performing consistently will make it to the last stages — eliminator, playoff and then the final.

Action is heating up, literally. And when you have a few men born in West Delhi, now owing allegiance to different franchises of the IPL, they are showing their true colours. All those who watched the night of shame at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Stadium in Lucknow where the hosts were blown away by Royal Challengers Bangalore will vouch this was ugly. Verbal slanging, glares, and even gripping a cricketer’s hand, all of it was bizarre.

Lucknow Super Giants have done reasonably well in this tournament, even though skipper KL Rahul is now out with an injury. Given his pathetic strike rate and clinging on to a place in the side and leadership, he has been lucky. One wishes him a speedy recovery but the way his side’s mentor — Gambhir — has shown lack of class and poise is sickening.

Anyone who has followed the history of Delhi cricket, not the IPL, but Ranji and other first-class forms, are aware boys/men from this side had swagger and style. From the days of stylish Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi to the genial Sardar Bishan Singh Bedi Paaji, Delhi has produced marvellous cricketers. The same Delhi team has produced firebrand cricketers, full of aggro, like late Raman Lamba and also the quintessential street-fighter — Manoj Prabhakar. Prabhakar had that banana swing and was the master of the reverse, with his spit and shine, sometimes literally.

Those were different generations of Delhi players. If you look at Delhi cricketers with aura, which also manifests as arrogance, then there are two dramatis personae who fit the bill well. Welcome, Messrs Gautam Gambhir, former left-hander opener, member of the ICC World Cup winning squad in 2011 and his junior Virat Kohli. Both are hard-core Dilliwallas, they will swear, curse, and use expletives. You could well say, Punjabi by nature!

Despite their dressing room differences, the two — Gambhir and Kohli — added 83 runs for the third wicket in the ICC World Cup final in April 2011 when India won the trophy. You would think two men who were part of national glory would have kissed and made up. After all, sport teaches you to forgive, forget and move on. No, these two men have shown that their DNA is the same, fight, taunt, engage and then use social media to attack.

Sport is full of characters, some are the epitome of good behaviour, some are street smart and some full of spunk. For the record, long ago, Gambhir and Kohli moved away from Delhi as far as the IPL is concerned. So, for the two to be part of a slug-fest after an IPL match, to be precise a club match after all, was shocking.

There was more than stare and glare. Anyone who has lived in Delhi, or been to Delhi, knows the aggro is natural and adjectives/expletives come naturally even in a normal manner of speech. Without taking sides, let’s be honest, in terms of performance and achievement, Kohli is a class act and Gambhir a poor second. This is in international cricket. Kohli quit captaincy and decided he was happy to just bat for India in all forms of cricket. And when captaincy was again thrust on him to take on the leadership for RCB in IPL 2023, in spurts, he did it without any qualms. Indeed, a sign of his love for RCB.

Yet, when the two teams — RCB and Lucknow Super Giants — met in Lucknow at a stadium named after the former Prime Minister of India, AB Vajpayee, the spirit of cricket had been blown to smithereens. Yes, from the images it appears Kohli was in the mood to needle the rival team members and the fans. That is his way of getting fired up. He did all that which may not be in the rulebook, during the course of the match.

In between, there was also one scenario where a young Afghan boy Naveen-ul-Haq, had gripped Kohli’s arm. Had this been a sport like club football or hockey, the ref’s whistle would have been blown and a yellow or red card flashed.

No, this is the IPL, all this drama is acceptable. Umpires in the IPL are sub-par, in fact they are impotent. After all, the umpires in the middle are no longer custodians of the game. For any decision, almost, they use the referral. What stopped them from cooling down tempers? No answers, really.

After the match, Gautam Gambhir stepped out. He has that glare, as if he is a heavyweight boxer like Mike Tyson who will pummel the rival into submission. There was an exchange of words between Gambhir and Kohli. All that is now in print and social media, which shows Gambhir in poor light. Without taking sides, one needs to make it clear, Gambhir is a senior pro, a mentor. He is part of the Lucknow team, a city known for its good behaviour and manners. No, Gambhir has been pathetic in his conduct, even worse than Kohli.

He is a mentor who is supposed to set an example. He is a sitting BJP Member of the Parliament from East Delhi. Does a sitting Member of Parliament behave like this? No way, even the ruling party will not approve of such behaviour. In fact, Gambhir should not be part of the IPL at all. He has a rich history of being an aggressive captain with Kolkata Knight Riders. Yes, he did win them a few IPL titles and was then sacked. Later, Gambhir came to the Delhi IPL franchise, where, too, he was sacked, unceremoniously.

It goes to show, Gambhir has also been aggressive and not a gentleman at all. His fight with Kohli spilled on to social media as well. He used Twitter to target Virat Kohli, which was not needed. Both the players have been fined, which means a damn. These guys are rich and wealthy, being stripped of match fees is a drop in the ocean from their earnings and net asset value.

There is still plenty of cricket left in the IPL. Is the Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka going to put up with such rude and immature behaviour from Gambhir? Is the Uttar Pradesh cricket association boss Rajiv Shukla going to have a word with Gambhir? Yes, he also needs to, for the state has produced great cricketers. UP does not need all this bad publicity, more so, since Shukla is the BCCI vice president and chairman of the IPL governing council.

What has been even more comical is that the former cricketers who were themselves never the best in behaviour have spoken on Gambhir and Kohli. Harbhajan Singh, who was involved in a major scrap with S Sreesanth in the IPL many years ago, now passes judgement on these cricketers. Veteran Sunny Gavaskar, who still loves the mike, wanted the two players — Gambhir and Kohli — to be suspended for a few matches. Is Sunny not aware there is no rule in the book to ban players when they fight after the match? Hilarious that guys who eat, sleep cricket and make millions out of it are so naive!

A word about Kohli. When he bats, he is all focus. He is full of reverence when he appears before MS Dhoni, his Guru. Yet, when he sees Delhi Capitals’ director Sourav Ganguly, he glares, avoids the handshake. That, too, went viral on social media. When Kohli plays in Bengaluru, he loves to engage with the fans. He did the same in Lucknow, though he was carried away by emotions.

There is that street-fighter streak still in Kohli. He is mature when needed and turns into “bad man” when needled. This is not going to change at all. You have to love or hate Kohli for all this. Yes, he is still relevant to Indian cricket. Or, is it a case where India’s blue-riband club cricket in T20 format actually gains more viewership from all these incidents.

Yes, it was a gentleman’s game many years ago. Now it is all about money, coloured clothing and the white ball where you get no brownie points for great behaviour. The entire drama has been viewed by millions. Young cricketers are bound to be influenced by how two great cricketers behaved the other night. After all, John McEnroe inspired some young tennis players to curse!

Will the IPL teach cricketers skills or how to get aggro, use expletives, glare and then trigger more outrage. The lowest forms of club cricket in tier-two cities do not allow bad behaviour in a match. The IPL needs to hang its head in shame. For all the riches and glamour in the

competition, it has turned out to be

spineless where behaviour on the field during a match and after its end has hit the nadir.

Is the IPL encouraging engagement in this way like Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters or the WWE characters? If this is cricket, ensure there is decorum and decency. India, Australia and England, plus many more countries, have watched the ugly side of the IPL 2023. Isn’t it a shame? ‘Or does this get more viewership on television and digital platforms?