Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq recently opined on the infamous incidents during and after the second clash between the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the IPL 2023. With the game heading toward a comfortable RCB win, things got messed up in the middle, with Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj, and Naveen involved. Even during the handshakes after RCB’s eventual 18-run win, things became ugly, with Kohli and Gautam Gambhir involved in an unfriendly spat.
In an interaction with Zalmi TV, Naveen recalled: “I think I went out to bat at No. 9 or 10 and we had pretty much lost the game by then. 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.”
“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,” said Naveen-ul-Haq.
However, the first meeting in IPL 2023 between the sides saw LSG pull off a last-ball win at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore as well. The Lucknow-based franchise beat Bangalore by chasing an improbable 213 in 20 overs, thanks in large parts to a 19-ball 62 by Nicholas Pooran as well.
“Gautam Gambhir got carried away because in the previous game (1st RCB-LSG game last), 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. 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. When I was going back to my position at long off, Virat bhai said ‘let’s finish this and forget what’s happened’. Even after the game, he said that the crowd won’t bother you anymore,” concluded Naveen-ul-Haq.
