"He started abusing our players"- Amit Mishra opens up on Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq's heated altercation
Veteran leg-spinner Amit Mishra was a part of the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) playing XI when the infamous heated exchange between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) star Virat Kohli and LSG fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq took place in Lucknow in IPL 2023. Mishra reckoned it all started in the reverse fixture earlier that season in Bengaluru.
LSG won a last-ball thriller and the then-mentor Gautam Gambhir gestured the Bengaluru crowd to remain silent. Mishra thought that annoyed Kohli and he took matters in his own hands when the two teams met again in Lucknow.
Claiming that Virat Kohli was abusing LSG's players, here's what Amit Mishra said on Shubhankar Mishra's YouTube show:
"We thought the matter ended with the game but not for Kohli. He started abusing our players (in the LSG vs RCB rematch in Lucknow). He didn't have any grudges with Kyle Mayers but he abused him as well. Naveen-ul-Haq was bowling, he would abuse him too."
Amit Mishra also claimed that Kohli could have let go of a lot of things given his stature, but he chose not to. There was also an altercation between Mishra and Kohli when the former asked him to go easy on young Naveen-ul-Haq. Kohli responded by saying that it was Naveen who needed to understand how to talk and not him.
Amit Mishra on the heated exchange between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli
Amit Mishra recalled the altercation between Virat Kohli and LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir which took place after the LSG vs RCB game. According to Mishra, Kohli had once again abused Naveen when the two teams were shaking hands and that didn't go down well with Gambhir.
On this, he stated:
"He (Kohli) started abusing him (Naveen) again during the customary handshakes. That's when Gambhir intervened, questioning why are you starting it again when the game had ended and you guys had won. I moved Gambhir away but Naveen later came to the dressing and said that Kohli started abusing again."
While Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq seemed to have sorted the differences between them, Amit Mishra felt the Afghanistan pacer would never really be able to respect the star Indian batter. He also felt that such a huge star abusing other players sets a poor example for fans following the game.