Afghanistan paceman Naveen-ul-Haq has opened up on his friendly bonding with indian batting star Virat Kohli during their 2023 World Cup clash in Delhi. The right-arm pacer, who has now retired from 50-over internationals, underlined that it was Kohli's suggestion to 'finish it' and he agreed to the same.
Kohli and Naveen were involved in an infamous altercation during IPL 2023, with the face off almost escalating to a physical fight. In the initial World Cup matches matches, the right-arm seamer kept hearing chants of 'Kohli, Kohli' from the crowd. Hence, it was interesting to see the battle between the two cricketers in the World Cup.
In an interaction with the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the 24-year-old stated:
"We got support in every game apart from that one game against India. Rather than that, we got a home kind of a feeling. He told me 'let's finish it.' I said yeah let's finish it. We laughed about it, we hugged and moved on. He also said that after this you won't hear my name. You will only hear support from the crowd."
Afghanistan had a memorable 2023 World Cup:
Meanwhile, Afghanistan were arguably the second-best Asian side in the 2023 World Cup after India. Led by Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afghanistan defeated the likes of Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Netherlands in the tournament.
They also pushed Australia close at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, but Glenn Maxwell's whirlwind 201* intervened and denied a historic win for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's campaign ended with a defeat to South Africa.
