Look: Sourav Ganguly, Virat Kohli shake hands, put rumours of rift to rest; photos goes viral

After much conjecture, the alleged rift between Indian cricket heroes Virat Kohli and Sourav Ganguly has finally reached a surprising conclusion.

The feud between the two sportsmen has been widely reported on in the past, stemming from Kohli's removal from ODI captaincy in 2021 which sparked a verbal spat between him and the BCCI administration, headed at the time by Ganguly. However, rumours of their rift made the rounds once again last month, following Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals' IPL 2023 clash.

After RCB's 23-run victory over Delhi Capitals at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, three videos from the match quickly went viral on social media. The first showed Kohli staring Ganguly down while the latter was sitting in the DC dugout, two overs before RCB's triumph. The second video captured the DC director of cricket bypassing coach Ricky Ponting to greet the RCB players — and in the process, skipping a handshake with Kohli.

The next day, a new video surfaced from the same game, where Ganguly appeared to ignore Kohli as he sat ready to open for the match. The footage showed Ganguly appearing to blatantly ignore Kohli, while other DC players and support staff greeted the batter – in response, the former RCB skipper levels a menacing stare towards the DC director.

Now, however, the two stalwarts of Indian cricket appear to have buried the hatchet. After DC's win at home by seven wickets against RCB on Saturday, Kohli and Ganguly were seen shaking hands with each other, with Ganguly even giving Kohli a friendly pat on the bat.