‘It’s his home ground and they have to support their hometown boy’ – Naveen ul Haq on facing Kohli chants
Afghanistan pacer Naveen ul Haq, who seemingly ended his prolonged spat with Virat Kohli during the India-Afghanistan 2023 World Cup match on October 11, found no harm in the crowd teasing him with Kohli’s name.
Naveen and Kohli were involved in an on-field tussle during an IPL 2023 game between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore. The exchange seeped through to the post-match handshakes, aggravating the drama. Since then, the quick has been at the receiving end of taunts from the Indian crowd whenever he has played there.
Playing the first match in Dharamshala against Bangladesh, a hostile crowd tried to tease him by chanting “Kohli, Kohli” whenever he was shown on the big screen or went to patrol the boundary lines. A similar incident happened during the India-Afghanistan encounter in New Delhi, Kohli’s hometown.
However, a magnanimous Kohli asked the home crowd to stop booing Naveen. A moment later, the duo hugged it out to put a full stop to any bitterness. “Let bygones be bygones,” Ravi Shastri, who was on air, said
Speaking to reporters after the game, Naveen insisted that the chants didn’t bother him. “We don’t think about anything like that. The crowd chants whoever’s name they want. It’s his home ground and they have to support their home team and hometown boy.”
He praised Kohli for his kindness and added that their on-field banter was blown out of proportion by the media. “He [Kohli] is a nice guy, he’s a good player. We just shook hands and just dusted (sic) whatever was done in the IPL. It was always on the ground, nothing outside. People make it big, the media – they want this stuff for their followers.”
This was not the first time Kohli showed his generosity despite being a fierce competitor on the field. In 2019, he did something similar to stop the Oval crowd from booing Steve Smith, who was returning to international cricket following sandpaper gate. That gesture earned him the ICC Spirit of Cricket award for that year.
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