Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir have had their differences in the past, but undeniably, they have more similarities. Hunger for runs, aiming for nothing but victory, and ultra-aggressiveness are some of the traits they share. Perhaps these are the reasons why they’ve shared verbal blows on the field twice. Anil Chaudhary, a former Delhi cricketer turned international commentator, has revealed that Gambhir and Kohli were similar during their childhood.
Virat Kohli & Gautam Gambhir: same, same but different
Gambhir, who turns 43 in October, didn’t play a lot with or against Kohli in Delhi. Being seven years older, the current Indian head coach has been Kohli’s captain and played under him as well. Chaudhary, who played with both during his time, revealed that both were ‘quick, aggressive, and different from others’. He shared how other kids failed to keep up with them between wickets. If one of Kohli or Gambhir reached a milestone like scoring a hundred, a couple of kids were run out in the process.
“I’ve played with both of them. I remember both of them because they’ve been playing since childhood in Delhi. They used to run so much that the other batter was running out half the time. Meaning that if they played, they would score 100, but someone would get run out on the other end. They were very quick for their age, and most kids weren’t able to keep up with them. They were very quick, very aggressive, and different (from others), no doubt about it, and they used to get big scores like 125-150 even in 40-over matches,” the umpire said on the 2 Sloggers podcast.
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