Gautam Gambhir makes middle-finger gesture to crowd in viral video, later claims it was directed towards Pakistanis

A video of former India batter Gautam Gambhir showing a valgar gesture towards a section of the crowd during the Asia Cup match between India and Pakistan in Pallekele has recently  gone viral. In the video, Gambhir can be seen showing middle-finger to the crowd amid chants of “Kohli, Kohli” from the latter.

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— Out Of Context Cricket (@GemsOfCricket) September 4, 2023

And while it’s still not clear what Gambhir wanted to convey with his controversial gesture, he refuted the claims that it was against Kohli, and said that there were two-three people in the crowd who were speaking against 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,” Gambhir told news agency ANI.

#WATCH | Kandy, Sri Lanka | On his recent viral video during Asia Cup 2023, former cricketer and BJP MP Gautam Gambhir says, "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… pic.twitter.com/RX4MJVhmyd

— ANI (@ANI) September 4, 2023

“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,” he added. India’s game against Pakistan in Pallekele was washed out due to rain. Earlier, fifties from Ishan Kishan (82) and Hardik Pandya (87) had rescued India to help them post 266 following the top-order’s failure to fire. India are currently taking on Nepal in their final group match of the Asia Cup.