If you didn’t know, Naveen-Ul-Haq is a fast bowler hailing from Afghanistan. With this year’s IPL coming up, he recalls what actually happened during the infamous showdown between Virat and him. IPLCricBet tells you the exact version of events, in his own words.
What went down during the heated spat involving Naveen, Kohli and Gambhir?
This happened during LSG’s away game against RCB. This began as Gambhir intervening between Naveen and Kohli, and ended up as an intense argument between him and Kohli. The argument became heated enough that the 2 former India players almost went for hitting each other. Recalling the event, Naveen spoke further about it.
Details about the infamous spat between Naveen, Kohli and Gambhir
This went down in the 1st game of 2 RCB vs. LSG matches. KL Rahul’s team went to play Faf du Plessis at Chinnaswamy after they arrived in Bangalore. Lucknow won last – ball thriller.
In a podcast with Zalmi TV, Naveen’s own words to describe the situation were as follows.
“We went to play our away match in Bengaluru. That’s where it all started. We won that game – it was very close – so one of our players [Avesh Khan] threw the helmet in excitement after scoring the winning runs. Virat Kohli probably didn’t like it. Next, their team came to Lucknow. I think I went out to bat at No. 9 or 10 and we had pretty much lost the game by then.”
Continuing the report, starpunternews had further statements from the Afghanistan player. “So, I didn’t expect that I would be sledged. But when it happened, like I said, when someone starts, I can’t hold back. After the game, things continued during the handshake too. The sledging came from two guys – Kohli and Mohammed Siraj.”
What added to Gambhir’s aggression?
Gambhir marched out to the ground after their win. He silenced the crowd’s celebration with a shush gesture and went on to shake the opponent team’s hands aggressively. This included Kohli, which created waves amongst the IPL crowd because both have again been pitted against each other.
It wouldn’t be amiss to note that Kohli and Gambhir are used to striking controversy by now. The famous cricketers coming to blows and needing to be separated by their teammates ruined the pleasant ambience of the game.
Naveen further added to his statements. “Gautam Gambhir got carried away [with the shush gesture] because in the previous game, when we needed 1 off 1, one of their bowlers wanted to run the non-striker out while running in to bowl. It was the last wicket. It got heated because the bowler missed taking the bails off. Spirit-wise it wasn’t looking good because it had proven to be such a good game by then. It would have been a shame had it ended in a run out. Because of that, he wanted to silence the crowd. He is a passionate guy, and so is Virat.”
Kohli and Naveen moved on
After 4 months, India played the 2023 World Cup match in Delhi against Afghanistan. This was Naveen’s first match after he underwent a successful rehab in the UK for his knee injury. During the commercial break, Kohli and Naveen moved past the incident. They hugged and shook hands while getting over the spat.
For his final statements, Naveen added the ideal ending to the situation. “When I was going back to my position at long off, Virat bhai said ‘let’s finish this and forget what’s happened’. Even after the game, he said that the crowd won’t bother you anymore.”
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