India’s Virat Kohli with Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Afghanistan.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Even as Rohit Sharma set the Arun Jaitley Stadium alight with a scorching hundred against Afghanistan, his dismissal, in the 26th over of India’s chase, helped douse a fire.
Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq exchanged a handshake, a friendly one this time, after Rohit was bowled by Rashid Khan.
“He is a nice guy and a good player. We shook hands and decided to forget whatever happened in the IPL… There was nothing outside the ground. People made it big on media for followers. We are done with that thing,” Naveen said after the match.
Naveen was greeted with chants of “Kohli, Kohli” when he came out to bat and similar chants echoed across the stadium when he bowled to the local boy.
The altercation between the two began during IPL 2023 when Kohli exchanged a few words with Naveen when the latter came out to bat, following which they almost came to a physical confrontation after the match.
At just 24, Naveen has decided to retire from ODIs after the World Cup and the pacer said the future of the format was bleak as far as bowlers were concerned.
“More international bowlers will opt out of ODI cricket because there isn’t any balance between bat and ball,” he said, adding that a spate of injuries forced him to reconsider his future in one-dayers to prolong his T20 career.
When asked about what the plan was when Rohit was running away with the game, Naveen didn’t mince words.
“When a batter is playing like that you can’t do much, just hope he miscues a shot,” he said.
