Gautam Gambhir losing cool and flashing his middle finger to fans at the Premadasa Stadium has caused a massive uproar on social media. The former cricketer was a part of the Asia Cup 2023 commentary panel during the group stage game between India and Nepal on Monday. As he moved out of the commentary box, the fans started chanting the names of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni which could also be seen in the video that went viral on social media. But what irked the fans was the former cricketer’s gesture while being escorted by an official.
The fans were convinced that the chants of Dhoni and Kohli left the cricketer-turned-politician fuming, prompting him to show his middle finger. But soon, Gambhir came up with a post on the microblogging site X (formerly Twitter) to issue a clarification.
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes,” Gambhir wrote.
“Not everything is as it seems. Any Indian would react how I did to the kind of slogans used against our nation. I love our players & I love my country,” he added.
Gambhir also spoke to the media and explained what forced him to make a controversial gesture during a live cricket match featuring Team India.
“What is shown on social media has no truth in it because people show whatever they want to show. The truth about the video that went viral is that if you raise anti-India slogans and speak about Kashmir then the person before you will obviously react and not smile and leave. There were 2-3 Pakistanis there who were speaking anti-India things and things on Kashmir. So, it was my natural reaction. I can’t hear anything against my country. So, that was my reaction,” Gambhir said.
