Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli exchanged heated words between them during their infamous spat during IPL 2023.
Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli are two greats of the game. Both the players have won plenty of matches for India as well as for their IPL franchises. But both the aggressive players are known for their ugly moments on the cricket field with each other.
In IPL 2023, after the game between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Lucknow, both Gambhir and Kohli came face-to-face with each other, resulting in an ugly spat. The incident received plenty of controversy all around the cricketing world. Not only it was covered in India, but in Pakistan as well.
LSG fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq recalled the controversy between two India greats. During the game, the war of words first started between Naveen and Kohli, with the latter sledging Naveen when he came out to bat.
“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,” Naveen said in a podcast with Zalmi TV.
“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 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,” Naveen added.
The Afghanistan fast bowler believed that Gautam Gambhir got carried away with his shush gesture to the crowd. After the match, Gautam Gambhir silenced the crowd with his shush celebration and aggressively shook the hands of opposition players.
“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,” Naveen said.
“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,” Naveen added in the podcast.
Naveen-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli finally brought this controversy to an end in India’s World Cup 2023 match with Afghanistan in Delhi. During India’s innings, Naveen and Kohli were seen shaking hands and hugging each other. According to Naveen, Kohli said to him, ‘let’s finish this and forget what’s happened’.
In the ongoing PSL 2024, Naveen-ul-Haq is playing for Peshawar Zalmi, which is led by Babar Azam. He will represent Lucknow Super Giants in IPL 2024.
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