Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq discussed the fiery spat between LSG and RCB during the IPL 2023 season, which also roped in Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir.
Naveen found himself in the midst of a confrontation with Kohli, prompting Gambhir to intervene. Both former teammates had to be separated by players from both teams.
In an interview with Zalmi TV, the LSG fast bowler revealed that tensions began brewing during a match in Bengaluru, which LSG won in a thrilling finale.
Naveen felt that Kohli was displeased with Avesh Khan's celebrations. The Afghan bowler expressed surprise at being sledged and harboured no ill feelings towards Kohli and Siraj.
Naveen-ul-Haq opens up on the heated LSG-RCB spat
"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. Next, their team came to Lucknow. I think I went out to bat at No. 9 or 10 and we had pretty much lost the game by then," Naveen said in a podcast with Zalmi TV.
"So, 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," he added.
Gambhir got carried away: Naveen
The LSG fast bowler said that Gambhir overreacted with the shushing gesture in Bengaluru when Harshal Patel attempted to run out the non-striker's end.
"Gautam Gambhir got carried away [with the shush gesture] because in the previous game, 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," Naveed added.
Naveen and Kohli reconciled during the World Cup 2023 campaign, while Gambhir parted ways with LSG and has taken on the role of KKR's new mentor for IPL 2024.
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