After charged-up celebration, LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir shares a hug with Virat Kohli

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) mentor Gautam Gambhir shared a hug with senior Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli following a tense Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 encounter at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Monday, April 10.

In a thrilling game that went all the way down to the wire, LSG scripted a one-wicket win off the last ball. Bangalore batted first in the game and put up 212/2 as Kohli (61 off 44), skipper Faf du Plessis, (79* off 46) and Glenn Maxwell (59 off 29) struck half-centuries.

In reply, Nicholas Pooran (62 off 19) and Marcus Stoinis (65 off 30) played exceptional knocks to lift Lucknow to a memorable win. Following the triumph, Gambhir was extremely pumped up and even silenced the Chinnaswamy crowd with a ‘finger on the lips’ gesture.

LSG's official social media handles, though, shared pictures of a calm Gambhir exchanging a hug with Kohli and even having a chat with him. The images were shared with the caption:

“Ye IPL hai mere yaar, bas ishq mohabbat pyaar 💙❤️.” (This is IPL my friend, only love)

Delhi boys Gambhir and Kohli have not been the best of mates over the years. In fact, they were involved in one of the ugliest spats of the IPL during the 2013 edition.

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“From the position we were in, to end up winning it is superb” - LSG skipper KL Rahul

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Lucknow Super Giants skipper KL Rahul described the emotions after the incredible win as "unbelievable" and said:

“This is the Chinnaswamy, only venue where so many last-ball finishes are possible. From the position we were in, to end up winning it, is superb. We had to go hard and the ball swung early, and they got 2-3 wickets to put the pressure on us. The only reason we got two points today is for the way the lower order batted.”

Rahul himself had another poor outing with the bat. Speaking about his own efforts, he admitted:

“Not ideal for me, I want to score more runs and get the strike rate up as well. We've played on two tough Lucknow wickets, and today we lost 3 wickets so I went slower. I wanted to stay till the end and play with Nicky (Pooran).”

Praising Stoinis, Pooran, and Impact Player Ayush Badoni, Rahul concluded:

“Batting 5 ,6, 7 is the toughest positions to play and that's where games are won and lost. We know about the power in Marcus and Nicky, and Ayush has come along as well. He's played 2-3 knocks last year, and he's continued to perform well for us.”

LSG are leading the IPL 2023 points table with three wins from four games and a net run rate of +1.048.