Virat Kohli spat at me, apologised after AB de Villiers confronted him: Dean Elgar
Cape Town, Jan 29: Former South Africa skipper Dean Elgar has claimed that star India batter Virat Kohli "spat at him" during a Test match and apologised two years later after being confronted by his Royal Challengers Bangalore teammate AB de Villiers.
Elgar retired from international cricket after the conclusion of South Africa's two-Test series against India at home in December while standing-in for regular skipper Temba Bavuma.
Without mentioning the series in which the incident took place, speculated to be South Africa's tour of India in 2015, Elgar agreed on a podcast that he had showdowns with Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin.
"All the time," Elgar said on 'Banter with The Boys' podcast sitting alongside former South African all-rounder Chris Morris and rugby player Jean de Villiers.
Elgar then said, "In India...Those wickets were jokes."
"And I came into bat and I was actually like holding my own against Ashwin and what's his name Jajeja ja-ja-jajeja, ('Jadeja', said someone in the background) and Kohli, he like spat at me," Elgar said.
"I said to him, 'if you do that, I'll f*****g *** you with this bat'," Elgar claimed.
"Did he understand that word?" asked the podcast host referring to the beeped out word.
"Yes, he did because (AB) de Villiers was his teammate at RCB so he understood. I said 'if you do that, I'll absolutely knock you out'," Elgar claimed.
The former South African opener said after de Villiers found out about the incident, he took up the matter with his good friend and RCB teammate. Elgar did not specify when exactly de Villiers discussed the incident with Kohli.
"Anyway, so, realised that de Villiers found out what he did and went up to him and said 'bud, why are you spitting at my teammate bud? That's not on' and two years later, he (Kohli) calls me aside playing (in) South Africa and said 'can we go have a drink at the end of the series?"
"'I want to just apologise for my actions'. Two years later in South Africa, he says he wants to apologise for what he did. We had a drink, (the) punchline is we drank till 3 am in the morning. This is when he used to drink, now he is obviously converted a bit," Elgar added.
When asked how was his experience playing his final Test for South Africa against the likes of Kohli and Ashwin, Elgar replied, "awesome."
Kohli apparently did not celebrate after taking a catch off Elgar's bat in his final Test innings at Cape Town in December 2023 and hugged the South African as he returned to the pavilion.
Kohli even gave one of his Test jerseys to the Proteas player.
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Savarkar remarks: Rahul Gandhi appears in Pune court via video link in defamation case, gets bail
Pune, Jan 10: A special court in Pune on Friday granted bail to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case related to his alleged objectionable remarks on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar.
The MP/MLA court granted bail to the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha on a surety bond of Rs 25,000 after he appeared before it through video conferencing, his lawyer said.
Senior Congress leader Mohan Joshi stood as surety for Gandhi (54) before the court presided over by Amol Shinde, judicial magistrate (first class) and special judge for MP/MLA cases.
Advocate Milind Pawar, representing Gandhi, said soon after his client appeared before the court, they moved a bail application.
The judge allowed the plea and granted bail to the former Congress president on a surety bond of Rs 25000, he informed.
The advocate said the court also granted permanent exemption to the Lok Sabha MP from Rae Bareli from appearing before it.
The case was filed on a complaint by V D Savarkar's grandnephew Satyaki, who alleged Gandhi had made defamatory remarks against the Hindutva icon at a programme he attended in London in March 2023.
Earlier, advocate Sangram Kolhatkar, representing Satyaki Savarkar, objected to Gandhi's application seeking virtual appearance.
There was no provision that allows an accused to appear in court through video conferencing before securing bail, Kolhatkar argued.
The court, however, permitted Gandhi to attend the proceedings online.
Wearing a bottle green sweater, the Congress MP appeared before the court and stated his name when the judge asked for it.
The matter will be next heard on February 18.
As per the complaint, Gandhi, while speaking at the London event, stated that Savarkar had written in a book that he and five to six of his friends once beat up a Muslim man and he (Savarkar) felt happy.
According to the complaint, the freedom fighter had not written this anywhere and the Congress leader's remarks were aimed at defaming him.
At the time, the court had asked the Pune police to investigate the allegations and file a report.
The Vishrambaug police, after an inquiry, submitted that there was prima facie truth in the complaint.
Gandhi had skipped the previous court appearance on December 2 citing the winter session of Parliament which he was attending.
His lawyer Pawar had then assured that the opposition parliamentarian will appear in the court on January 10.
