‘Virat Kohli is a nice guy’ says Naveen Ul Haq after hugging it out in India vs Afghanan World Cup clash | Cricket-world-cup News

New Delhi: Not Jasprit Bumrah’s bowling, not even Rohit Sharma’s breathtaking century, the moment of the India-Afghanan match came in the 26th over. Rashid has dismissed Rohit and during the break Naveen-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli were seen exchanging pleasantries. Holding arms, then a pat of the back. Naveen initiated it, and both shared a lovely smile.The handshake should now relegate to the past the five-month-old on-field altercation between the two during the IPL. In May, the two players had an argument on the field that triggered a football-style clash between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).
After the game, Naveen was asked about Kohli and the nice moment they shared. The player said: “He is a nice guy, a good player and we shook hands. It’s always in the ground, it was nothing outside the ground. People make it big. They need that stuff for their followers. He said we are done with that and I said yes we are done with it. We shook hands and hugged.”
The on-field spat back then was the subject of viral videos, and memes. It wasn’t forgotten as India and Afghanan faced off in New Delhi on Wednesday, but the hate towards the bowler was less.
Earlier this year, the Kohli-Naveen tiff spilled over to the ceremonial end-of-game handshakes between the two teams. Again, words were exchanged, and the two had to be separated, with Naveen pulling out of the handshake angrily.
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Kohli in an RCB video had said: “A sweet win. If you can give it, you got to take it. Otherwise, don’t give it.”
Naveen, too, wasn’t apologetic. “You get what you deserve. That’s how it should be and that’s how it goes,” he posted on Instagram.
A month later, Naveen had opened up about his spat with Kohli during in an interview with BBC Pashto.
“He shouldn’t have said all those things during the match and after it. I didn’t start the fight. After the match, when we were shaking hands, Virat Kohli started the fight,” he had said.

Virat Kohli – Naveen Ul Haq hugging each other 😍#CWC23 | #INDvAFG | pic.twitter.com/6E0sdr7ekh
— ♔ (@balltamperrerrr) October 11, 2023
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“When you will look at the fines, you will understand, who started the fight. I just want to say one thing I generally don’t sledge anyone, and even if I do it I would say it to the batters only when I am bowling because I am a bowler. In that match, I didn’t utter a single word. I didn’t sledg anyone.
“Players, who were there they know how I dealt with the situation. I never lost my temper, when I was batting or after the match. What I did after the match can be seen everyone. I was just shaking hands and then he (Kohli) caught my hand forcefully and I am also human being and I reacted,” he said.
“If someone is saying something to me I won’t back off. I have had it since I started playing the U-16 for Afghanan in 2010. I never badmouth anyone but if anyone does that to me I don’t stay silent. I give it back. You can call it wrong but that’s how it is. Be it a young player from the opposition or a senior team member, be it in a club match, playing for Afghanan, or in the IPL, I play the cricket match with same intensity,” he said.Most Read
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After the incident, Naveen was subjected to vitriolic trolling and had to restrict comments in his Instagram handle. The seamer was also whled the fans, everytime, he was running in to bowl but he says he was not botherred about it at all. Playing his first season in the IPL, the Afghan seamer bagged 11 wickets in eight games with an impressive economy rate of 7.82.
Naveen has been on the receiving end in the social media as well as in the ground. He was troubled the fans in Dharmshala and Delhi as everytime he was running down to bowl, the crowd started chanting “Kohli, Kohli.” Those in the know say the Afghanan seamer, even wore a teammates jersey while getting out of the team bus in Dharamsala to confuse the fans.
But with the roar that went up as Kohli and Naveen shared the moment, perhaps the hatchet can now be buried between players as well as the between the Afghan pacer and the Indian crowd.