>Kolkata Knight Riders Captain Gautam Gambhir on Saturday sought to downplay his verbal duel with Rajasthan Royals counterpart Rahul Dravid in an Indian Premier League (IPL) match, insisting that he never exchanged harsh words with the legendary batsman.
This was the second time that Gambhir found himself involved in an on-field spat after a run-in with Virat Kohli in a previous IPL match.
On Friday night in the fifth over of the KKR innings, the incident started with Manvender Bisla and Shane Watson exchanging a few words after the Australia sought to intimidate the Indian with the ball on his follow through.
Dravid stepped in to try and calm Bisla but the stumper asked him to cool off Watson first. Gambhir, who was batting at the other end, joined the heated discussion even as Dravid walked past the two with a smile on his face.
In the next over, when Gambhir was stumped by Dinesh Yagnik off Watson, the batsman again appeared to be exchanging some words with Dravid before walking off.
However, Gambhir sought to clear the air saying he did not disrespect Dravid during the incident.
“Guys, u have got it all wrong. No harsh words exchanged between me n Rahul bhai. He was n will always be a respected teammate. No fuss plz,” he wrote on his twitter page.
Gambhir actually ridiculed the way last night’s incident was hyped.
“Guess we are always obsessed wid some drama or spice.
Sorry none existed between me and rahul. Always respect him,” read his second tweet.
Before Gambhir, Australian spin legend Shane Warne, who led the Rajasthan Royals to the IPL title in 2008, took a jibe at the Indian opener on the same site.
“Question cricket followers - is Ghambir in the top 3 annoying cricketers on the planet ???,” Warne wrote on his twitter page.
