'He's owning Kohli again': Naveen-ul-Haq's 'round 2' Instagram story after RCB's brutal MI loss leaves bitter taste

Moments before RCB's brutal loss, Lucknow Super Giants player Naveen-ul-Haq posted an Instagram story which left Virat Kohli fans furious.

Given how closely contested IPL 2023 has been with five teams on 10 points at the start of the Wankhede clash, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians were desperate for a win on Tuesday. Faf du Plessis's men, put to bat first, set a target of 200. And Mumbai Indians, riding on a crazy knock of 83 from 35 balls from Suryakumar Yadav, cruised to a six-wicket win. Moments before RCB's brutal loss, Lucknow Super Giants player Naveen-ul-Haq posted an Instagram story which left Virat Kohli fans furious.

Virat Kohli; Naveen-ul-Haq

Faf Du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell did put in their efforts with his respective half-century knocks during their fourth century stand this season, but 200 was never enough at Wankhede and given how Mumbai Indians' middle-order has shaped up lately. And it proved to be right.

After Ishan Kishan laid the perfect foundation with his 21-ball 42, Suryakumar and Neha Wadhera took their time to settle down before taking down the RCB bowlers one after the other. Boundaries were scored in a flurry as MI wrapped up the game with 21 balls to spare.

Moments before the match, Naveen took to Instagram to share a story with the screenshot of the MI-RCB game on TV where the hosts required eight runs going into the 17th over. It was captioned: "Round 2 with these. One of the best mangoes I've ever had thanks @dhaval_parab bhai." No matter the reason behind posting that, given the recent context during the showdown between him and Kohli, fans were left thinking what it could be.

Here are some of the reactions to Naveen's Instagram story after MI thrash RCB

It was Naveen's second Instagram story which fans felt was an indirect aim at Kohli. Naveen had posted it only moments after Kohli's dismissal for 1 off 4 with the caption: “Sweet mango's”.

On May 1, during the IPL 2023 match between RCB and LSG at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow, Kohli had allegedly pointed at Naveen showing the dirt in his shoes during the home team's chase. The act left Naveen furious as it followed a heated exchange between the two. The on-field umpire and LSG teammate Amit Mishra were both forced to intervene as it continued for long and later stretched to the post-match handshake as well.

Both Naveen and Kohli were charged hefty amounts by BCCI for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct. Naveen was docked 50 per cent of his match fees while Kohli was fined 100 per cent pf his fees owing to his altercation with LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir as well.