'Seemed As If Gambhir Tried To Create Something Out Jealousy': Ahmed Shehzad On Sledging Incident With Virat Kohli

Out-of-favour Pakistan opener Ahmed Shehzad has weighed in on the recent verbal war between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir. Shehzad lashed out at Gambhir's jealousy of Kohli as he believes the former Indian captain deserves respect for being the legend of the sport. Shehzad was also unimpressed by Gambhir's excuses for the fight.

Following the IPL 2023 game between the Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore, the duo were seen arguing likely over the earlier incident with Naveen-ul-Haq. Both Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100 per cent of their match fees after their verbal spat. The Delhi-born cricketers also had a similar episode during IPL 2013.

Shehzad said it was baffling to see Gambhir target a player of his own country and accused him of deliberately picking up a fight with Kohli.

"By what I saw, it was really sad. I can understand what happened on the field between that Afghanistan player (Naveen) and Virat Kohli. These things happen, but what you can't understand is why would Gambhir target a player of his own country, who right now the world's biggest player. The gestures he showed against Kohli were not right. Our perception as viewers has changed as our feelings have gotten hurt. It seemed as if Gambhir tried to create something out jealousy," the 31-year-old said in the Nadir Ali podcast.

Ahmed Shehzad says Gautam Gambhir hasn't achieved the success in his entire career that Virat Kohli has:

Shehzad further commented that Gambhir should act better than that and should apologise to Kohli instead of giving excuses, adding:

"I have never seen anyone misbehave with Kohli. He is a legend of the game and you should respect him. And after that, he is giving excuses. I feel he hasn't been able to digest the respect and success Kohli has achieved. What he has achieved in such a young age, Gambhir couldn't achieve it his entire career. If you're really a big player, or big at heart, this shouldn't be your gesture. You should realize your mistake, and apologise to him. I have never seen a staff from the management jump in a tiff between two players."

Kohli will be next seen during the West Indies tour, starting on July 12th in Dominica.