Indian Premier League 2023

‘You get what you deserve’ – Virat Kohli, Naveen-Ul-Haq post cryptic social media messages after on-field blow-up

by Wisden Staff May 2, 2023 - 8:08am 2 minute read

After getting involved in several heated exchanges in last night’s (May 1) clash between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore, both Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq have now put up cryptic messages on their social media accounts.

The LSG-RCB game has been the talk of the town since last night, and it does not seem to be stopping any time soon. After RCB won a low-scoring thriller at the Ekana Stadium, tempers flared between both sides as Kohli and Naveen were at the centre of an extended episode of heated altercations.

The tension during LSG’s run-chase was palpable. The events from the Chinnaswamy Stadium when the last time these two sides played was visibly on the minds of the RCB players. There was always a risk of emotions overflowing, and precisely that happened as Kohli and Naveen got involved in an argument during the 17th over of the run chase.

Kohli suggested Siraj bowl short to Naveen, to which Naveen seemingly took offence and came up to have a word – or several – with him. Heated words and gestures were exchanged, with the young Afghan fast bowler in no mood to back down. This continued after the match got over with Lucknow mentor Gautam Gambhir getting involved as well.

After things seemed to have quietened down a bit, KL Rahul asked Naveen to join in for a chat with Kohli to clear things between the two, but Naveen rejected the offer. That perhaps indicated that this episode was not ending soon.

Now, a day after the game (May 2), both players posted cryptic messages on social media, quite possibly referring to the events of last night.

Kohli’s post reads: “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth,” while Naveen posted a message on his Instagram story which says, “You get what you deserve that’s how it should be and that’s how it goes.”

Naveen also had an incident with Mohammad Amir and Shahid Afridi in a Lanka Premier League game in 2020, while Kohli has had a history of incidents with Gambhir. All three have been fined by the match referee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct during their spat last night (May 1), with Kohli and Gambhir fined 100% of their respective match fees and Naveen fined 50% of his match fees.