Why was Naveen-ul-Haq trolled with ‘mangoes’ after LSG’s loss to MI in IPL 2023 Eliminator?
A number of social media users trolled pacer Naveen-ul-Haq using ‘mangoes’ as a reference after Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) went down to Mumbai Indians (MI) by 81 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 Eliminator on Wednesday, May 24.
LSG were knocked out of IPL 2023 after a disappointing performance in the playoff clash at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Batting first, Mumbai Indians put up a competitive 182/8 on the board in their 20 overs.
In response, Lucknow Super Giants were cleaned up for 101 in 16.3 overs as pacer Akash Madhwal registered sensational figures of 5/5.
Following LSG’s loss to MI, social media was abuzz, with trolls taking a dig at Naveen’s love for ‘mangoes’. The reference to mangoes went viral since the fast bowler had taken an apparent dig at Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batter Virat Kohli after the latter was dismissed for 1 in an IPL 2023 match against Mumbai Indians.
Moments after Kohli’s wicket, Naveen put up a social media post with the caption “sweet mangoes”. Users felt the post was directed at Kohli, with whom he had a verbal war of words after LSG’s clash against RCB in Lucknow on May 1.
Naveen Ul Haq said - "It was a good IPL season for me. I have learnt quite a few things from this IPL". https://t.co/BWuRGPHJbQ
Just as Mumbai Indians were about to defeat Bangalore in the match that was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Naveen posted another Instagram story with the caption:
“Round 2 with these. One of the best mangoes I’ve ever had thanks @dhaval_parab bhai.”
Mumbai went on to beat Bangalore by six wickets in match number 54 of IPL 2023, played on May 9.
MI players' indirect ‘mangoes’ dig at Naveen-ul-Haq in deleted social media post
Not only Kohli fans, even MI took an indirect dig at the Afghanistan fast bowler after the IPL 2023 Eliminator.
In a social media post, which was subsequently deleted, Mumbai Indians players Sandeep Warrier, Kumar Kartikeya and Vishnu Vinod featured in a cheeky photo on a dining table with mangoes.
Sandeep and Vishnu uploaded the photo on their Instagram profile and captioned it:
"Sweet season of mangoes"
While Sandeep and Vishnu later deleted the post, a Twitter user took a screenshot of the same and uploaded it on his social media handle.
The sweet mangoes! https://t.co/HDVxde926T
Naveen’s own IPL franchise shared a humorous post related to the cricketer’s trolling. The franchise took to Twitter and posted a screenshot, stating that they had muted the words mango, mangoes,sweet, aam and mango emoji. The post was captioned:
“Issued in our interest 😅🤝.”
🤝
Issued in our interest 😅🤝 https://t.co/e1Jn9gWATn
Naveen claimed 4/38 with the ball to restrict MI to under 185. However, his efforts went in vain as LSG’s batting came a cropper against Madhwal.