RCB batter Virat Kohli and Lucknow Super Giants coach Gautam Gambhir engaged in a very aggressive verbal altercation that ended just short of becoming an all-out brawl following an IPL game in Lucknow. Such incidents must not occur again, and Sunil Gavaskar, the former captain of India, has called for more severe punishment, such as a match suspension, rather than substantial fines.

Sunil Gavaskar compared the situation to the Sreesanth-Harbhajan “Slapgate” incident in the Indian Premier League and questioned the efficacy of the steep fines that Kohli and Gambhir have received

“My point is do something which will make sure these things don’t happen again. If it has to, you know, like it happened with Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth 10 years ago, that you have to ask them to maybe step aside for a couple of matches…make sure you do something that ensures that these things don’t happen and also something that will hurt the team.”

Gavaskar told Star Sports.

“What exactly is a 100 percent match fee? If it is Kohli, who is on maybe Rs 17 crore for RCB, which means Rs 17 crore for a possible 16 matches, including the semi-finals, and finals (sic). So you are talking about a crore of rupees. Is he going to be fined 1 crore and more? Well, that’s a very, very stiff fine. I don’t know what Gambhir’s situation is. They should ensure that this is not repeated. You are hoping that this is not repeated because it’s such a stiff fine, such a stiff punishment.”

Gavaskar further added.

“A lot of it has got to do with the fact that everything is on TV. Because you are on TV, you tend to do maybe just that little bit extra,”

the former opener said.