The India vs Afghanistan match was perfect for the Rohit Sharma-led team in many sense. The India skipper scored his seventh World Cup ton while Jasprit Bumrah took four wickets. It has set the Indian cricket team nicely for the mega clash against Pakistan on Saturday in Ahmedabad. However, one incident stood out during the course of the match, the image of which has gone viral on social media. Virat Kohli and Naveen ul Haq hugged out each other in a clear signal that all is well between them.
In the IPL 2023, during a match between Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore and Naveen Ul Haq’s Lucknow Super Giants, the two players were involved in an ugly spat. But now things are normal. Th two again came face to face at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi, where there is a stand named after Virat Kohli.
“An interesting development took place when Rohit Sharma was dismissed and Shreyas Iyer was coming out. This is what happened. Naveen-ul-Haq, and Virat Kohli shaking hands with each other. And this is good. The crowd loved it. You might have your things to say in the heat of the moment, but this is absolutely great to see,” Ravi Shastri, who was commentating during the match, said on Star Sports.
He followed that up with a witty remark. “Whatever happens, Naveen has to go back to the Virat Kohli pavilion,” he said.
On Wednesday, chants of ‘Kohli Kohli’ welcomed Naveen when he came into the bowl. During India’s chase of 273, the two players were seen enjoying a lighter movement. For Naveen, the matter never went beyond the boundary ropes.
“Crowd will chant for their home cricketers and that is what they did. It is his (Kohli’s) home ground. He is a nice guy, a good player and we shook hands.
“It (what happened) was always in the ground, it was nothing outside the ground. People make it big. They need that stuff for their followers. He said (today) ‘we are done with that and I said yes we are done with that. We shook hands and hugged,” Naveen said.
The 24-year-old has only played nine ODIs and he plans to retire from the format following the World Cup.
Talking about his retirement plans, Naveen said: “To be honest more international bowlers will opt out of ODI cricket because there is not much balance between bat and ball. I wish I would have played more ODI cricket but it is what it is.”
With PTI inputs
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