Virat Kohli Asks Crowd at Arun Jaitley Stadium to Stop Booing Naveen-ul-Haq: WATCH

India defeated Afghanistan by 8 wickets in Delhi to register their second consecutive win in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023. Rohit Sharma smashed a blistering ton while Virat Kohli scored an unbeaten fifty, guiding India to a convincing victory. But more than the outcome of the face-off, it was the friendly reunion of Kohli and Afghan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq that melted the hearts of a million cricket fans.

The crowd at Kotla was excited to see the Kohli-Naveen match-up as they were up against each other for the first time since their verbal spat in IPL earlier this year. The fans expected a second round of the on-field brawl but to their surprise, the duo buried the hatchet instead.

Kohli and Naveen hugged each other and shared a smile when India were chasing a target of 273 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday evening. There was a moment when the former Indian captain asked the crowd not to hoot against the Afghanistan pacer.

This wasn’t the first when Kohli asked the crowd to stop booing an opponent cricketer. Back in the 2019 World Cup, he did the same at The Oval when the supporters of Team India jeered at Steve Smith for the infamous sandpapergate. Instead, Kohli, who was leading the Indian side, asked the crowd to cheer for the Aussie batter.

Smith was returning after a year’s ban due to his involvement in Sandpaper Gate. He was greeted with boos at a stadium as he moved to the boundary to field during India’s innings. Kohli walked towards that stand, waved to the fans and gestured them to clap at Smith and not boo him.

On Wednesday, chants of ‘Kohli Kohli’’ welcomed Naveen when he came into the bowl. During India’s chase of 273, the two players were seen enjoying a lighter movement. For Naveen, the matter never went beyond the boundary ropes.

“Crowd will chant for their home cricketers and that is what they did. It is his (Kohli’s) home ground. He is a nice guy, a good player and we shook hands,” Naveen was quoted as saying by PTI.

“It (what happened) was always in the ground, it was nothing outside the ground. People make it big. They need that stuff for their followers. He said (today) ‘we are done with that and I said yes we are done with that. We shook hands and hugged,” he added.

The 24-year-old has only played nine ODIs and he plans to retire from the format following the World Cup.