IPL 2023: Shane Watson on Virat Kohli vs Sourav Ganguly saga - There was definitely fire in RCB star's belly

IPL 2023: Delhi Capitals (DC) assistant coach Shane Watson has reckoned that he wasn't sure if there was any deliberate effort from either of Virat Kohli or Sourav Ganguly to avoid handshake after Royal Challengers Bangalore's (RCB) 23-run won over Delhi Capitals (DC) in Bengaluru on April 15.

Watson, who has earlier played with Kohli at the RCB, said all the hype around the no-handshake between the two superstars of the game could just be rumour mongering, adding that he wasn't sure and unwilling to get involved in the matter.

“It could be rumour mongering, but I’m not sure. So, it’s not something I want to get involved in," Watson said on Grade Cricket's YouTube channel.

The former Australia all-rounder, however, pointed out that Kohli was definitely pumped up and that was a dangerous thing for the Capitals as the cricketer tends to give his best when he takes the field with that mindset.

"But there was definitely some fire in Virat’s belly, that’s for sure. For an opposition point of view, that’s the last thing you need as well. Virat, when he’s like that, that’s when he’s at his absolute best. Whatever reason that was, I’m not exactly sure,” Watson added.

A picture of Kohli and Ganguly from the match had also gone viral. A few fans have claimed that Kohli was staring at Ganguly while fielding near the DC dugout near the boundary rope. The two players also unfollowed each other from their social media handles following the match.

No handshake between Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly!
And Virat looks aggressively to Ganguly after taking the catch!
😮#viratkohli #souravganguly #rcb #aggressive #ipl2023 #cricketuniverse pic.twitter.com/FJG0GhFWhh

— Cricket Universe (@CricUniverse) April 15, 2023

Notably, the relation between Kohli and Ganguly strained after the sacking of the former as the India ODI captain. Ganguly in an interview said that he "personally requested Kohli to carry on as the T20I captain but the 34-year-old did not consider his suggestion.

According to Ganguly the selectors wanted one captain for the Indian white-ball side and had Kohli listened to him, he would not have been sacked as the ODI captain.

“It's like I said… I personally requested him (Kohli) not to give up the T20I captaincy. Obviously, he felt the workload. Which is fine, he has been a great cricketer, he has been very intense with his cricket. He has captained for a long period of time and these things happen. Because I have captained for a long period of time; therefore, I know,” Ganguly had told News 18 after Rohit was awarded the ODI captaincy.

Kohli later dropped a bombshell ahead of India's departure for the tour of South Africa, saying that nobody asked him to reconsider his decision. He had also added that the decision to remove him as the ODI captain also came abruptly to him.

“I was contacted 1.5 hours before the selection meeting on the eighth [December] for the Test series. There was no prior communication to me at all since I announced the T20I captaincy decision until the 8th of December, where I got a call before the selection meeting. The chief selector discussed with me the Test team, to which we both agreed. And before ending the call, I was told the five selectors have decided I will not be the ODI captain, to which I replied, 'okay, fine’,” Kohli had said in the press conference.

“When I approached BCCI about the T20 captaincy, it was received well by them and I was not told not to leave the T20 captaincy,” he had added, calling out Ganguly’s lies out in the open.

In another twist to the episode, Chetan Sharma - the BCCI chief selector, during a sting operation this year, was heard saying that Kohli had started considering himself bigger than the board and game, and had tried to "hit back" at the former BCCI president as he felt that Ganguly had removed him from the ODI captaincy.