Naveen-ul-Haq Reacts to 'Kohli, Kohli' Chants, Opens up on Working With 'Legend' Gautam Gambhir

Even on the day he picked four wickets, Naveen-ul-Haq’s celebrations and “Kohli, Kohli” chants from the crowd remained the biggest talking point. Such has been his journey in the IPL that more than his cricket, celebrations and actions on the field and sly digs on social media have attracted attention. If there was an index for most talked about cricketer of this year’s IPL, Naveen is likely to give stiff competition to all-time greats.

From the altercation with Virat Kohli on May 1 to LSG’s elimination from the competition on May 24, a lot of flak has come Naveen’s way across social media platforms. The 23-year-old’s sly indirect digs on Kohli and RCB have only fuelled the fire and it has come down to a situation where the seamer has restricted comments on his Instagram account and has blocked plenty of twitter users.

Also Read: Naveen Drowns Kohli Chants But Unable to Prevent LSG Toppling

Recently, after GT knocked RCB out of IPL 2023, Naveen posted another cryptic Instagram story where a famous African TV reporter can be seen saying, “God have mercy upon us” before starting to laugh loudly. Both the timing of the post and the content points it towards RCB’s exit because during a conversation between AB de Villiers and Kohli earlier this year, the two spoke about this funny video at length.

Between the altercation and the cryptic post, Naveen repeatedly squeezed in some mangoes and became “The Mango Man”, title given to him by his teammate Nicholas Pooran, of social media. The King of fruits was probably never mentioned this much and it took the Mumbai Indians’ player minutes after the win to take an indirect dig at Naveen for his celebrations, and of course the mangoes.

Seamer Sandeep Warrier posted a picture with Kumar Kartikeya and Vishnu Vinod on a table with three mangoes in the middle and wrote “Sweet season of mangoes”. The post, which went viral in no time, was later deleted from their social media handles.

‘I enjoy it…’

A lot of attention, trolling and booing has come his way but Naveen is enjoying it. At the post-match presser on Wednesday, the LSG seamer said the chants give him passion to play well.

“I enjoy it. I like everyone in the ground chanting his (Virat Kohli) name or any other player’s name. It gives me passion to play well for my team,” said Naveen.

Also Read: Madhwal KOs LSG as Playoff Bullies MI Come Alive

Afghanistan seamer prefers to shut the outside noise and wants to focus on his cricket. For him, chants from the crowd or comments don’t affect his game and process.

“Well I don’t concentrate on the outside or the noise from outside or anything else. I just focus on my own cricket and my own process. Crowd chanting or anyone saying something doesn’t affect me. As professional sportsmen you have to take this in your stride. One do when you don’t good for your team, fans are going to give it to you. And when you do good for your team, same people are going to chant your name. Basically this is part and parcel of the game,” said Naveen.

‘Legend of cricket’

Gautam Gambhir stood behind his young seamer after the on-field spat with Kohli and LSG mentor did exchange a few animated words with former India skipper after the game too. Days after the ugly incident, Naveen posted a picture with Gambhir on Instagram with the caption, “Treat people the way you want to be treated. Talk to people the way you want to be talked to.” The image got a swift response from Gambhir who wrote, “Be who you are !! ‘Never Change.’”

Addressing a question on his relationship with Gambhir and how it has helped him grow as a player during the IPL, Naveen said “everyone should take back of their own players”.

“Everyone should take back of their own players. Mentor, coach, player or anyone. I will stand for each teammate on the ground and that’s what I expect from each individual also. He (Gambhir) has been a legend for India, he has huge respect in India. He has given so much to Indian cricket. As a mentor, as a coach, as a legend of cricket, I respect him a lot and have learnt so many things from him. How I should go about my cricket inside the field and same thing outside,” said Naveen.

The parting post

The season has ended for Naveen and the crafty seamer signed off with another interesting post with picture of celebration from the Mumbai Indians-GT Eliminator on May 24.

“Have lots to say but for now all I’ll say is thank you for all the love and support to the coaches,management and everyone involved in this journey thanks @lucknowsupergiants ,” Naveen signed off.