Afghanistan fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq found himself at the center of an on-field face-off between Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir at the Ekana Stadium on Monday night. Following RCB’s 18-run win against LSG, Gambhir and Kohli engaged in a heated verbal exchange, which was an extension of the spat that occurred between the former RCB skipper and Naveen during the match. The incident sparked interest in the cricketing world, and an old tweet from Shahid Afridi, who had a previous altercation with Naveen during the Lanka Premier League (LPL), went viral.
This wasn’t the first time that Naveen had been involved in a cricket brawl. He engaged in a war of words with Mohammad Amir during the LPL in 2020, and later with Afridi. Naveen was playing for Kandy Tuskers in that edition of the tournament. During the match, Naveen hurled some abuses at Amir, which led to an ugly scene. Later, when players queued up to shake hands, Afridi had some words with Naveen, and the latter retaliated.
After the match, Afridi took to Twitter to advise the young player to play the game and not indulge in abusive talk. He also stressed the importance of respecting teammates and opponents, which are the basic spirit of the game. Naveen replied, saying that he is always ready to take advice and give respect, but if someone insults his people, he would not tolerate it.
In an interview with The Cricketer a year later, Naveen described the incident with Amir as something that happened in the moment. He joked with Amir about how big a six he wanted to hit, but Amir took it seriously. Naveen is a competitive player, but after the match, he doesn’t hold any grudges against anyone. He sees Amir as a good player and cricketer.