NEW DELHI: Former Indian batter and Kolkata Knight Riders mentor Gautam Gambhir humorously commented on his franchise’s position in the Fair Play award standings during an appearance on spinner Ravichandran Ashwin‘s YouTube channel.
Known for his aggressive approach, Gambhir joked that KKR‘s lower rank in the Fair Play table was due to his presence in the dugout.
“Honestly, I thought we would be at the top of the Fair Play Award table because of what happened in Chinnaswamy [the hug between him and Virat Kohli].
There is no competition; irrespective of where we are on the points table, we should be at the top of the fair play award. But still, we are at the bottom,” Gambhir said, referring to his on-field hug with Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli, with whom he has had several verbal spats throughout his career.
Gambhir added, “Someone sent me a message a couple of days back: ‘KKR is where KKR is at the moment.’ I said, yeah. In the top, no. In fair play, at number 10 (currently number nine). Is there a trophy? I said, no. And I still do not understand. We played pretty fair. What wrong have we done in the last five games? I do not think so we have done anything wrong. And still, we are number 10. Probably it is just because I am sitting in that dugout.”
Gambhir’s KKR are set to take on Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Qualifier 1 match at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday. The game promises to be a high-scoring affair, with both teams known for their explosive batting line-ups that frequently put up huge totals.
KKR finished the league stage at the top with nine wins, three losses, and two no results, totaling 20 points. SRH, on the other hand, finished second with eight wins, five losses, and one no result, giving them 17 points.
(With inputs from ANI)