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Delhi makes Naveen-ul-Haq's life difficult with ‘Kohli, Kohli’ chants in India vs Afghanistan World Cup 2023 match
The Delhi crowd pounced on every opportunity to remind Naveen that he was not only up against Kohli and other Indian cricketers but also the entire stadium.
Facing India and that too in Virat Kohli's home ground was always going to be difficult for Afghanistan's young pacer Naveen-ul-Haq. And so it was. The capacity crowd at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi pounced on every opportunity to remind Naveen that he was not only up against Kohli and other Indian cricketers but also the entire stadium. Naveen was kind of expecting it. At least that's what his expressions suggested on Wednesday. His first meeting with Kohli since that infamous on-field tussle during IPL 2023 had anyway added a never-before-seen spice to the India vs Afghanistan World Cup 2023 match and thanks to the Delhi crowd, no one needed a reminder for the same.
Naveen first got the first proof of what might be in store for him very early on Thursday. The Afghanistan team was warming up with still some time to go for the toss. The stadium was not even half full but the ones present decided to make life difficult for Naveen the moment they spotted him. Chants of "Kohli, Kohli" went up when Naveen was going about his fielding drills.
India vs Afghanistan Live Score, World Cup 2023
The saving grace for Naveen was perhaps the fact that Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi opted to bat after winning the toss. But the relief from the "Kohli" chants was only there for about three hours. The Afghanistan batter walked out to bat at No. 10 amid thunderous "Kohli, Kohli" chants towards the end of the Afghanistan innings.
Such was the impact of the chants that it did not go missing in the commentary box. Former India Ravi Shastri said, "Naveen Ul Haq comes out to bat and shouts are of "Kohli, Kohli". I wonder why... No prizes for guessing."
And as fate would have it, Naveen got off the first ball with a flick off his pads and the ball was fielded by Kohli at fine leg, who did not seem too pleased with keeper Rahul for not being able to collect his throw cleanly.
What happened between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq?
In the IPL 2023 match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Super Giants, Kohli appeared to have said something to Naveen, the LSG batter. The chatter from Kohli continued with non-striker Amit Mishra making futile attempts to calm the India legend down. Naveen did not respond to Kohli's sledges on the ground but after the match was finished, he shook the RCB player's hand rather aggressively. That was not the end of it. When LSG captain KL Rahul tried to broker peace, Naveen walked away, refusing to talk to Kohli.
It was one of the most heated IPL matches ever. It was not limited to Naveen and Kohli's chatter. Kohli was involved in an animated chat with Kyle Mayers and later with LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.
Afghanistan's decent effort with the bat
Coming back to the World Cup 2023 match, Afghanistan posted a decent 272 for 8 against India in their World Cup match on Wednesday.
Skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62) struck fine fifties but Afghanistan had a slump between the 35th and the 45th over as they eventually just managed a decent score.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah (4/39) was the pick of the bowlers while Hardik Pandya (2/43), Kuldeep Yadav (1/40) and Shardul Thakur (1/31) also contributed well.
