‘Didn’t elbow him on purpose’ – Gautam Gambhir on his altercation with Shane Watson in 2008

Back in 2008, Gautam Gambhir, the former Indian cricketer, got into a tangle with Australia’s Shane Watson. The left-hander seemed to have elbowed Watson while running between the wickets. Later, he was found to be breaching ICC’s Code of Conduct and was handed a one-match ban. Watson was also found guilty and was fined 10 per cent of his match fees.

Talking about the incident in the third Test at New Delhi, Gambhir said that his actions weren’t intentional by any means. Gambhir, who retired from cricket in December 2018, said that on the advice of coach Gary Kirsten, he pleaded guilty in front of match referee Chris Broad. But instead of any kind of ‘sympathy’, the left-hander got the slap on the wrist.

Gary Kirsten told me to accept it: Gautam Gambhir

“Shane Watson! And the reason is I didn’t do that intentionally. Actually, I got banned after that game. A lot of people say that I elbowed him, but I didn’t do that purposely,” Gambhir was quoted as saying in Star Sports show Cricket Connected.

“When I was going for the hearing to the match, Gary Kirsten told me to accept it as it is Chris Broad. He will give you the extra sympathy and he is not going to ban you. I went inside with Gary Kirsten and he asked if you accept your mistake. I said ‘Yes’ and he said you are banned,” he quipped.

Parking aside the controversy, Gambhir had a decent enough match. He got 206 in the first innings followed by a patient 36 in the second. The first time around, it was Watson itself who got rid of the big fish at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. The match ended in a draw.

During the conversation, Irfan Pathan, who was present along with Gambhir, was asked if he had some sort of a brawl with his teammate. Replying to the question, Pathan dismissed it, saying, “I don’t think we ever had a heated argument.”

Even Gambhir echoed Pathan’s words and mentioned that the world has witnessed all of his “heated arguments” with cricketers. “Never! The world has seen whatever heated arguments I have had,” Gambhir added.