The controversy erupted after Kohli refused to shake hands with the Aussie after SRH crushed RCB by 55 runs. Kohli did shake hands with SRH and Australia captain Pat Cummins but he totally ignored Head who offered a handshake but when he saw Kohli had walked right past him without even looking at him, he had no option but to move on.

It’s difficult to say what triggered the hostility on Kohli’s part but it appears something happened during his short stay at the crease in RCB’s chase. It appears, as part of his sledging tactics, Kohli asked Head to come and bowl to him “a few deliveries.” Head for the large part of this season has come on as an impact player but that wasn’t the case on Friday, and through some “impact sub” gestures Kohli tried to take a dig at Head.

Sadly for Kohli, after getting involved in sledging so much, he couldn’t continue for long and perished for a 11-ball 15.

Having said that, Head is no saint. During the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2024-25, he too sledged no end. In fact, one of his gestures became quite controversial in a terrible series for India.

Former India allrounder Irfan Pathan was commentating when things got heated up between Kohli and Head. Later, he said: “See what happened during the game can happen, in the heat of the moment. That’s okay but what happened after that wasn’t right.”

The match was very important for SRH. They needed a huge win to break into the top-2 and they did win in a grand way, however, it still was not big enough to overtake RCB or Gujarat Titans’ net run rate. Despite the humiliating defeat, RCB finished on top on the basis of their superior net run rate ahead of GT and SRH. These three teams finished on 18 points, it may be noted.

Anyway, all that has been pushed to the background with the Kohli-Head event taking centre stage at present.