Down the memory lane: When Gautam Gambhir handed over his ‘Man of the Match’ award to a young Virat Kohli

Down the memory lane: When Gautam Gambhir handed over his ‘Man of the Match’ award to a young Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir

Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli

One visual that comes to everyone’s mind while talking about Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli together on a cricket field is their ugly spat during an IPL game. The incident took place during the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore. 

However, another prominent on-field occurrence the two legends shared took place at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2009. Indian opener Gautam Gambhir handed his ‘Man of the Match’ award to the then-budding cricketer Virat Kohli after India’s victory against Sri Lanka. Interesting, it was the maiden international century for a then 22-year old Kohli.

Both Gambhir and Virat smashed terrific centuries to chase down a formidable target of 316 during the fourth One Day International between the two Asian giants. Gautam played an unbeaten knock of 150* runs and Kohli got out after scoring 107. India convincingly won the game by seven wickets in hand during the penultimate over.

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After winning the toss, Sri Lanka posted 315-6 on the board at the end of their 50 overs. SL opener Upul Tharanga ended as the best batsman in the first innings. On the other hand, Zaheer Khan emerged as the best bowler for the Indian contingent with his spell of 10-0-49-2. 

Here’s the full video of the heartwarming gesture by Gambhir

After making his international debut in 2008, Virat Kohli didn’t look back and went on to become one of the finest batsmen that the game ever saw. With 70 international hundreds, he is the all-time third-highest century scorer. He is also amongst the few batsmen to have a batting average over 50 across all three formats of the game.

Looking at his current form and fitness, Virat Kohli looks crystal clear to break several other records in the years to come.

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