Former India opener Gautam Gambhir asked fans to stop trolling and making fun of cricketers both on and off the field after Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq ended their spat with hugs and handshakes. However, India took on Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Wednesday, October 11 and emerged victorious. While there were talks about how Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq would behave, both of them showed great maturity and decided to bury the hatchet as well. Gambhir, who was also involved in the spat during IPL, was on commentary when Kohli and Naveen did that.
Sharing his thoughts on the same, he said: “You fight on the field, not off the field. Every player has the right to fight for his team, fight for respect, and fight to win. It doesn’t matter which country you belong to or how good of a player you are. The good thing was when we saw Virat Kohli and Naveen Ul Haq in between the overs, we can see that the fight has ended.”
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Giving a stern message to fans, he further added: “I would also want to tell the crowd and fans that any player in the ground or on social media, shouldn’t be trolled or made fun of. You are passionate when you represent your team. It was a huge thing for Naveen to play in IPL for the first time coming from Afghanistan.”
However, Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 55 off 56 balls as India chased down 273 in 35 overs with eight wickets to spare. The Indian team thus registered their second win in as many games in the World Cup. Speaking after the match, pacer Naveen has also opened up on his interaction with Kohli as well as the controversial incident between the two during IPL 2023.
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“He [Kohli] 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,” he concluded.
