'Virat Kohli started the fight': Naveen-ul-Haq on IPL 2023 spat

Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq’s coming together during a Lucknow Super Giants versus Royal Challengers Bangalore fixture grabbed the headlines during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. As Kohli and Naveen came together, LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir, too, got involved in the heated exchange.

As everyone guessed what happened, with different accounts on offer, Naveen opened up on the incident and said the fight started with RCB’s Virat Kohli instigating it.

“He shouldn’t have said all those things during the match and after it. I didn’t start the fight. After the match, when we were shaking hands, Virat Kohli started the fight,” he told BBC Pashto.

“When you will look at the fines, you will understand, who started the fight,” he added.

While Kohli and Gambhir were docked the complete match fee, Naveen was fined 50 percent.

The Afghanistan bowler clarified he doesn’t sledge unless he’s being pushed into a corner.

“I just want to say one thing I generally don’t sledge anyone, and even if I do it I would say it to the batters only when I am bowling because I am a bowler. In that match, I didn’t utter a single word. I didn’t sledge anyone. Players, who were there they know how I dealt with the situation.”

“I never lost my temper, when I was batting or after the match. What I did after the match is can be seen by everyone. I was just shaking hands and then he (Kohli) caught my hand forcefully and I am also human being and I reacted,” he said in the interview.

To add to the dramatics of it all, Naveen-ul-Haq posted regular indirect social media posts which were aimed at Kohli and RCB.

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