Afghanistan and Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) cricketer Naveen-ul-Haq faced brutal trolling on social media for “disrespecting” Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Team India icon Virat Kohli during a recent Indian Premier League (IPL) contest between the two franchises.

The former India and RCB captain and Naveen-ul-Haq hogged the limelight for a heated confrontation before Virat Kohli had a go at Amit Mishra, leading to a tense face-off with LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.

There were multiple fiery exchanges between players of the two sides during the latter stages of the match and after its completion, with Virat Kohli telling the Lucknow team's members: “If you can give it, you've got to take it back as well. Otherwise don't give it”.

The ugly row started during the concluding stages of LSG's run chase, in the 17th over of their essay, when a charged-up Virat Kohli had a long discussion with the on-field umpires.

A little later, the video of the ugly episode was broadcast on the big screen by Star Sports, the official broadcasters of the premier T20 tournament.

In the footage, Virat Kohli could be seen saying something to Naveen-ul-Haq which resulted in the Afghan player charging towards him. The Delhi-born cricketer, however, was taking none of it as he immediately responded with a tirade of his own before showing his shoe to Naveen-ul-Haq. But it wasn't exactly clear what the former India captain said.

The nasty scenes during the game didn't stop there.

After players of the two teams shook hands, Gautam Gambhir charged at Virat Kohli, with the former looking visibly upset with the latter over an issue.

In the viral clip, the RCB superstar argued with the LSG mentor over something before KL Rahul and Vijay Dahiya intervened and separated Gautam Gambhir from Virat Kohli.

For the uninitiated, Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli don't share the best of relationships with each other. The two fought with each during the 2013 IPL when Gautam Gambhir was the skipper of the Kolkata Knight Riders.

Since 2013, the relations between the two Delhi-born cricketers have remained frosty.

Last month, when RCB played LSG at their home ground, the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Gautam Gambhir broke into wild celebrations after his side overhauled a huge total to beat Virat Kohli's team in their own den.

It was followed by a tense handshake between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli before the LSG mentor took a dig at the home crowd by making a “keep quiet” gesture.

 

Speaking about the match between LSG and RCB, the hosts lost the tie to the visitors by 18 runs.

In a low-scoring game, Virat Kohli and his teammates could only put 126/9 on the board, with the 34-year-old contributing to RCB's triumph.

Besides Virat Kohli's 31 off 30 balls, only captain Faf du Plessis made a meaningful contribution with the bat, scoring 44 off 40 deliveries. Apart from these two, no other RCB batter crossed the 20-run mark.

With only 127 runs needed to win, LSG were the firm favorites to secure another victory in this edition of the IPL. However, RCB bowlers had other ideas.

India pacer Mohammed Siraj opened the bowling for RCB and delivered almost immediately as he dismissed Kyle Mayers in the first over of LSG's run chase.

Subsequently, LSG found themselves in a deep hole, with Aayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Deepak Hooda, and Nicholas Pooran departing in quick intervals and the home team's score reading 38/5 in 7 overs.

Though Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis attempted to turn the game around in favor of LSG, he perished for 13 in the 11th over. LSG lost Krishnappa Gowtham in the following over, ending all hopes of the hosts' win.

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Meanwhile, India batting legend Sunil Gavaskar launched a scathing attack on Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir, saying he wished such incidents wouldn't happen on the field.

“Well, I saw the visuals only a while ago, I did not see the match live yesterday. These things never look good. What is a 100 percent match fee? What exactly is a 100 percent match fee? If it is Kohli, who is on maybe Rs 17 crore for RCB, which means Rs 17 crore for a possible 16 matches, including the semi-finals, and finals. So you are talking about a crore of rupees. Is he going to be fined Rs 1 crore and more? Well, that's a very, very stiff fine,” Sunil Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

“I don't know what Gambhir's situation is. They should ensure that this is not repeated. You are hoping that this is not repeated because it's such a stiff fine, such a stiff punishment. You want to play it hard, play it competitively. During the time that we played, there was a bit of banter, but there was none of this aggression that we see now. A lot of it has got to do with the fact that everything is on TV too. Because of the fact that you are on TV, you tend to do maybe just that little bit extra,” he added.

On the other hand, Sunil Gavaskar's former Team India teammate Ravi Shastri said that Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir should have handled the situation better.

“I think the penny will drop in a day or two. And they will realize that this could have been handled a lot better. Both play for the same state and they have played enough cricket. Gautam is a double World Cup winner, and Virat is an icon. Both come from Delhi. I think the best thing would be to sit them both down and put an end to it. Once and for all,” Ravi Shastri said.

“Whoever does it, the sooner the better, because you don't want this to spill off. Carrying on, the next time they meet again there are words exchanged and one thing leads to another. The sooner the better. If I have to do it so be it,” Ravi Shastri elaborated.

Senior journalist Rajat Sharma had a different take on ugly scenes in Lucknow.

According to him, Gautam Gambhir is “jealous” of Virat Kohli's growing popularity, and perhaps that's why he reacted the way he did.

“Gambhir has been provoked. After fighting the elections and becoming a Member of the Parliament, Gambhir’s ego has increased even more,” Rajat Sharma said on India TV. “How Virat Kohli’s popularity worries Gambhir was witnessed yet again, clearly on the ground. Kohli is a player who is always aggressive, doesn’t tolerate any nonsense and so he gave Gambhir an apt reply.”

“In all, what Gambhir did is against the sportsman spirit. This behavior is not befitting of a former India player and a current Member of Parliament. Such incidents ruin the reputation of cricket and should not have happened,” the popular television host concluded.