Former South African captain Dean Elgar was in the news for having accused India great Virat Kohli for an unwholesome incident that occurred between the two. Here’s a lowdown on that incident and how they managed to sort out their issues.
It was the evening session of the first day of the second and final Test on India’s tour of South Africa early in 2024. Dean Elgar had walked out to bat for the second time in Newlands, Cape Town and added 37 for the first wicket with Aiden Markram.
In the context of the match, that was an excellent partnership with the team having gotten bowled out for 55 in the first innings and then scalped six Indian wickets for zero runs when the tourists batted.
And then he edged the rookie, Mukesh Kumar to the slips where Virat Kohli grabbed a dolly.
Instead of celebrating in his normal, aggressive style, Kohli opted not to do anything. He congratulated the bowler, high-fived his team and then went up to Elgar to give him a quiet pat and a quick handshake with the South African opener.
It had been the end of a glorious and gritty career for Elgar having earlier decided this would be his last international series and Kohli had done what most cricketing greats would have – recognised the moment and offered his opposition the respect he so deserved.
At the end of the match, which India would go on to win by seven wickets, Kohli would offer his signed jersey to Elgar as a mark of respect.
Things, however, haven’t always been this rosy between the two players as explained by Elgar in an interview after his retirement.
What was Elgar’s issue with Kohli?
According to a chat that Elgar had on the Smash Sports Inc’s Banter, with The Boys podcast, he got involved in a verbal duel with Kohli on their tour of India in 2015.
The podcast host was seen asking Elgar if he was forced to get involved in a spat with “Kohli or [Ravichandran] Ashwin”. Elgar responded with “all the time” to which the host asked him to expand on the details.
Elgar referred to his first ever tour of India in 2015 in which he said he was battling and “holding my own” against some of the best spin bowling on offer – Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
And just as that was happening, Elgar revealed that Kohli “spat at me”!
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Shocked at Kohli’s actions, Elgar said he told him, “If you do that again, I will f******* *** with this bat.”
When asked by the host if Kohli understood what that South African slang meant, Elgar said yes, he had been friends with another South African cricketer, AB de Villiers because of their time together at Royal Challengers Bangalore during the Indian Premier League.
He said:
“Yes, he did because de Villiers was his teammate at RCB, so he understood. And I said if you do that, I’ll … on this field, I’ll absolutely knock you out.”
“And then [he said] ‘Hey F*** you, F*** you’ (mimicking the Indian) but barking up the wrong tree yeah. Anyways, we are in India so you got to be a little bit cautious.”
What happened later between Elgar and Kohli?
Elgar went on to talk about how his relationship with Kohli improved.
India were on a tour of South Africa in 2017-18 on which Kohli, who was captaining the team, apologised to Elgar for his behaviour. According to Elgar, Kohli spoke to him and asked him out for a drink at the end of the series, saying that he wanted to say sorry for his actions.
Kohli, Elgar revealed, was with him till 3 am on one of the nights and the two had a few drinks. In more recent times, Kohli’s laser-sharp focus on his fitness has meant that he has stopped consuming alcohol completely.
Incidentally there was another incident involving Kohli and Elgar on their next tour of South Africa in 2021-22. This wasn’t directly related to the two with Kohli having had problems with DRS on that occasion.
Has Kohli responded to these Elgar allegations?
No, he hasn’t yet responded to what Elgar alleged.
At the time when this podcast was released, Kohli had taken time off to be with his family for personal reasons. In doing so, he had missed a couple of home Test matches against England as well.
How did South Africa perform in the 2015 & 2017-18 series against India?
The tour that Elgar was referring to in the first place was one of the worst ones for South Africa who went on to lose 3-0 to India. The only drawn Test in that series came in Bengaluru because it rained on all but one of the days.
Elgar had finished that tour with 137 runs from seven wickets at an average of 19.57. Kohli did only slightly better, scoring 200 runs at 33.33.
In 2017-18, South Africa grabbed a 2-0 lead by winning the first two Tests but India came back strongly to knock them down in the third Test on a spicy Wanderers pitch.
Incidentally, Elgar carried his bat in the fourth innings of that game, scoring an unbeaten 86 but the rest of the team fell away as South Africa were bowled out for 177.