IPL 2023: Virat Kohli-Gautam Gambhir fight - What is the actual fine amount and who pays it?

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IPL 2023: Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir were fined 100 hundred percent of their match fee following their on-field spat following the match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 1. The situation escalated pretty swiftly between the two cricketing stalwarts at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow.

Kohli and Gambhir had to be separated by the teammates and support staff of the two teams. LSG's Naveen-ul-Haq was also one of the central figures of the entire episode and the Afghanistan pacer was also slapped with a fine of 50 percent match fee.

Calculated on a pro-rata basis and factoring in Kohli's yearly salary of Rs 15 crore per year, his fee for a game would be Rs 1.07 crore approximately. The figure was arrived at on the basis of 14 games for a season.

In case RCB qualify for the play-offs and number of games increase, the value of Kohli's per match fee would decrease (Rs 15 crore divided by number of total matches in the season). By any calculation, the RCB star would lose close to Rs 1 crore.

But will Kohli really pay this hefty fine? No. "Players put their bodies on the line for the team and we respect that and as a culture we don't cut the fine from their salaries," an RCB source told Cricbuzz.

The remuneration that LSG mentor Gambhir draws is unknown as it is totally between owner Sanjiv Goenka and him. Reports that he gets Rs 25 lakh fee for a match is a matter of speculation.

The fine imposed on Gambhir is unlikely to be from his earnings and the franchise will bear the brunt in all possibilities. The same could be said for Naveen-ul-Haq who gets Rs 50 lakh for a season from LSG.

However, the system varies from franchise to franchise. Further, according to the Cricbuzz report the BCCI sends the invoice for all the fines imposed on a team at the end of each season. The franchises then pay it; whether to deduct it from a particular player's salary or not is an internal matter of a team.