Kohli's indirect message to Gambhir: 'You gotta take it, otherwise don't give it'

Virat Kohli was unusually aggressive and animated in his celebrations during the Lucknow Super Giants vs Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL 2023 match on Monday. This was the Kohli of old, who was a brick to every stone of the opposition. 

This side of Kohli is rarely seen on the cricket field nowadays especially after he stepped down from all captaincy roles of the Indian side as well as Royal Challengers Bangalore. But the LSG vs RCB re-match was different. It brought out the ultra-aggressive, feisty side of Kohli. 

The reason? Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir's animated celebrations after their last-ball win against RCB at the Chainnswamy Stadium earlier in the tournament.

Kohli celebrated each and every LSG wicket with extra aggression. Each of his gestures, mannerisms and actions portrayed a thousand words. It was a Kohli that wanted fire. He got that in the 17th over when LSG cricketers Naveen-ul-Haq and Amit Mishra exchanged words with him.

Things turned ugly after the match ended. During the handshakes, Naveen and Kohli were at each other again. Moments later, Gambhir was seen charging towards Kohli. The old teammates and bitter rivals came face-to-face and if it weren't for LSG captain KL Rahul, senior-pro Mishra and a few others, things could have gotten worse.

In his first reaction after RCB won the low-scoring match by 18 runs, defending 126, Kohli couldn't hide his satisfaction. In a video posted by RCB on its social media handles, Kohli minced no words in an indirect message to his opponents or the ones who would to rile him or his team up. "That's a sweet win boys! sweet win, Let's Go! If you can give it, you gotta take it, otherwise don't give it," he screamed in ecstasy after the win.

"It was a really important win on the road. It's a very sweet win for many reasons, most importantly for the kind of character we showed defending that total. I think everyone had the belief that we can do it and we ended up on the winning side which is really great," commented Kohli, who along with Gambhir and Naveen were slapped with hefty fines by the BCCI for the fallout on Monday's match.

The 12th man of RCB also played a huge part for the team as they reached in large numbers to the stadium despite it being an away match.

Virat Kohli expressed his gratitude to all the RCB fans who had an upper hand in the Stadium during the match which also played a role in motivating the players to give their best in a crucial match.

He stated, "The win was great and the fact that we got more support than the home crowd is an unbelievable feeling, it tells you all about how much we are liked as a team and how people come out and back us."

RCB will now play their next match on Saturday in New Delhi and will look to continue the momentum and strengthen their position for the playoff race of IPL 2023.