Mumbai, May 7: The verbal joust between Lucknow Super Giants’ Naveen-ul-Haq and Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli, which started during Match 43 of Indian Premier League 2023 at Lucknow a few days back, refuses to die down with the Afghan player firing fresh salvo on Saturday.
Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq had a heated exchange during the match and continued and matters became worse when the players continued their argument when the players were shaking hands after the match. Lucknow Super Giants mentor Gautam Gambhir then waded into the controversy directing his ire at Kohli.
On a day when reports came out that Kohli has written a letter to some BCCI officials explaining his position and claiming that he had not said anything to Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq, the Afghan pacer took to Instagram to post a picture with Gambhir, taking a dig on Kohli in the captain.
He captioned the post, “Treat people the way you want to be treated. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to.”
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The ugly clash between the two greatest Indian cricketers — Kohli and Gambhir — wasn’t a pleasant sight, and as a result of that, both of them were fined 100 per cent of their match fees for the altercation, which was deemed a Level 2 offence and in breach of IPL Code of Conduct’s Article 2.21. On the other hand, Afghanistan fast-bowler Naveen-ul-Haq was fined 50 per cent of his match fees.
In a report published by the Hindi daily Dainik Jagran on Saturday, the former RCB captain has written a message to a few BCCI officials explaining the situation and expressing his disappointment after being handed a fine of 100 per cent match fee. Kohli reportedly said he did not say anything wrong to the LSG players and mentor during the fight.
The 34-year-old Kohli was aggressive in his celebration during the LSG-RCB match and was charged up against a couple of LSG players like Naveen-ul-Haq and Kyle Mayers. The witnesses to the verbal altercations claim that Kohli was hostile towards Naveen and Amit Mishra, who was batting with the Afghan cricketer towards the end of LSG’s chase, also complained to the umpires about Kohli’s behaviour.
