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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Karnataka Assembly passes bill on Palace Grounds amid opposition protest
Bengaluru, Mar 6 (PTI): The Karnataka Assembly on Thursday passed the Bangalore Palace (Utilisation and Regulation of Land) Bill, reaffirming state ownership over 472 acres and 16 guntas of land here, amid protests by the opposition BJP.
During the discussion, Karnataka Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H K Patil said the state government would have to provide Rs 200 crore worth of Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) for each acre of land, which means that for 15 acres, Rs 3,000 crore worth of TDR would be issued.
“If we accept it, then this 2-km stretch of road will become the costliest road in the world. If we accept it then how are we going to develop the city in later stages? How will you carry out development works?” asked Patil.
He also pointed out that this question was raised not only under the Congress government but also during the previous BJP regime.
However, the BJP-led cabinet has opposed the project.
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“Suppose we agree to it then, what will be the valuation of the 472 acres? It will be lakhs and lakhs of crores of rupees. Can we accept?” Patil wondered.
The Minister said the government had previously exercised its executive powers to issue an ordinance, which was approved by the Governor. Now the government is bringing a bill with two amendments.
“In this bill, we have made provisions either to develop or drop the road development work,” Patil explained.
However, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra and BJP MLA Arvind Bellad opposed the move, alleging that the government was targetting Yaduveer Krishna Datta Chamaraja Wadiyar, the scion of the Mysuru royal family, and the BJP MP from Mysuru-Kodagu constituency out of political vendetta.
“We talk of 472 acres of Mysuru Maharaja but here there are many Maharajas who too own 400 acres, 500 acres and thousands of acres of land, which is known to everyone,” Bellad said.
He slammed the Congress government, saying political power should not be misused for personal vendetta.
“Why (the then Deputy Chief Minister) Siddaramaiah brought the law in 1996 pertaining to the Bangalore Palace? Why are you setting eyes on the Bangalore Palace?” he asked.
Vijayendra charged that Wadiyar won the election on BJP ticket so the state government realised that it should acquire it.
“This bill has been brought for political vengeance. We are not discussing whether Rs 3,000 crore is exorbitant or not but the moment Yaduveer became MP, the state government woke up. You should be ashamed. This house should not be used for political vendetta,” he said.
Intervening, Minister Priyank Kharge said Vijayendra should not have raised it because the intention behind building the road was noble.
According to him, the BJP too had the same plan when it was in power.
He sought to know whether thousands of crores of rupees be spent on a road which should have cost significantly less.
In response, BJP MLA B A Basavaraj (Byrathi) said issuing TDR will not be a burden on the state government and appealed to the ruling Congress to reconsider its stance.
Minister Ramalinga Reddy too explained that the Karnataka government acquired the entire land way back in 1996.
The Mysuru royal family went to the High Court, which gave ruling in favour of the state government. The royal family then approached the Supreme Court, where the case is still going on, the Minister pointed out.
“The final judgment is pending in the SC to decide whether the acquisition was right or wrong. If the SC says it’s the royal family’s property then let it be so. If the order is in the state government’s favour then we can take a decision. The bill is only about it,” Reddy explained.
Speaker U T Khader then called for a voice vote and the bill was passed by the Assembly amidst opposition BJP’s discontent.
