Naveen-ul-Haq, the Afghanistan cricketer, grabbed the spotlight for his involvement in a heated exchange with Virat Kohli during the match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow.
During Lucknow Super Giants’ batting innings, Naveen-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli were witnessed exchanging unpleasant words, which ignited a chain of events leading up to the post-match presentation. The entire episode turned out to be unseemly.
Subsequently, Virat Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, and Naveen-ul-Haq were fined for their respective mistakes. While Kohli and Gambhir received a fine equivalent to 100% of their match fee, Naveen-ul-Haq was charged with a fine of 50% of his match fee.
The specific reason for the verbal altercation between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq remains unknown. Naveen-ul-Haq took to his Instagram account and shared a story that reads, “You get what you deserve, that’s how it should be, and that’s how it goes.”
An old video clip of Naveen-ul-Haq causing a disruption during a Lanka Premier League match with Sri Lanka’s Thisara Perera has resurfaced on the internet. The video clip depicts Naveen-ul-Haq deliberately obstructing Thisara Perera at the non-striker’s end when Perera was attempting to take another run to reach the striker’s end.
As Perera approached the non-striker’s end, Naveen-ul-Haq caused a distraction by getting in the way, which visibly agitated Perera, escalating tensions during the game.
Although both players exchanged heated words, the umpire quickly intervened to defuse the situation. This was not the first instance where Naveen-ul-Haq engaged in a verbal altercation with senior cricketers. During the 2020 Lanka Premier League, he had a heated exchange with Mohammad Amir and Shaheed Afridi.
