Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar didn’t mince his words while reacting to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) icon Virat Kohli‘s rant at ‘pundits’ over criticsim of his strike-rate and struggles against spin. Kohli didn’t hold his emotions back as he took a swipe at critics after the match against Gujarat Titans (GT) last weekend. Reacting to Kohli’s rant, Gavaskar launched a scathing attack on the RCB icon, asking why those who continue to stay away from what’s said and written on social media are reacting to ‘outside noise’.

However, Gavaskar didn’t stop there as he also slammed the broadcasters for showing that rant from Kohli ‘a dozen times’ on television.

“That particular post-game interview has been shown on this channel earlier as well, right now, on this particular program it has probably been shown half a dozen times. I hope that Star Sports recognises that when that is being shown, asking where are the critics, the critics are the commentators. Your Star Sports commentators are the ones from whom the questions are being asked,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Amid his meltdown over Kohli’s rant, an old video of Gavaskar praising two-time World Cup winning captain MS Dhoni has resurfaced on social media.

In the video, an emotional Gavaskar recalled the moment when he got his shirt signed by Dhoni during IPL 2023.

Respect is earned, not given.

Meanwhile Gavaskar with MS Dhonipic.twitter.com/dFHUE4HAeZ

— (@rahulmsd_91) May 5, 2024

Gavaskar had said: “It was a very emotional moment for me (getting the shirt signed by MS Dhoni). MS Dhoni has done a lot for Indian cricket. If I have 2 minutes to live, I would like to witness Kapil Dev lift the 1983 World Cup trophy and MS Dhoni hit the World Cup winning six and the way he rolled over his bat after hitting the six.”

For the unversed, Gavaskar got his shirt signed from Dhoni after CSK’s last home game of the season last year, assuming that the veteran might retire from the IPL after the tournament.