Gautam Gambhir opens up on infamous 'elbow-tackle' incident with Shane Watson

Former India opener Gautam Gambhir was one of the most aggressive cricketers of his time. The southpaw was involved in several on-field altercations, one of which was with former Australian all-rounder Shane Watson.

It was during third Test match of the 2008 Border-Gavaskar series, Gambhir was going through the purple patch in his career and he slammed his career-best 206 in the clash. During the marathon knock, Gambhir elbowed Watson while taking a second run-off his delivery. Watson and Gambhir were on the sledging spree before that incident. The southpaw was later handed a one-match ban for breaching ICC Code of Conduct.

The former Indian cricketer opened up on the infamous incident and said he didn’t do that intentionally.

“Shane Watson! And the reason is I didn’t do that intentionally. Actually, I got banned after that game. A lot of people say that I elbowed him, but I didn’t do that purposely,” Gambhir was quoted as saying in the Star Sports show ‘Cricket Connected’.

Gambhir also revealed that the then India coach Gary Kirsten asked him to accept the mistake in front of match-referee. Gambhir said Kirsten thought Chris Broad might give him an extra sympathy if he accepted his mistakes.

“When I was going for the hearing to the match, Gary Kirsten told me to accept it as it is Chris Broad. He will give you extra sympathy and he is not going to ban you. I went inside with Gary Kirsten and he asked if you accept your mistake. I said ‘Yes’ and he said you are banned,” added the cricketer-turned-politician.