Premier India batter Virat Kohli's decision to let bygones be bygones in the case of Afghanistan bowler Naveen-ul-Haq angered fans on social media.

 

After Virat Kohli ended his differences with Naveen-ul-Haq on Wednesday, a section of cricket lovers slammed him for allegedly apologizing to the Afghan cricketer before calling his actions shameful.

https://twitter.com/iWorshipSRK/status/1712131977078596065

Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq share a bitter history, having been involved in one of the most ugly spats in the Indian Premier League (IPL) earlier this year.

 

But fans began trolling Naveen-ul-Haq after Virat Kohli arrived at the crease to bat in India's 2023 Cricket World Cup game against Afghanistan. 

 

At this stage, the Team India talisman gestured toward the crowd that mocking an athlete based on his past acts wasn't a good gesture on the part of the audience.

 

Subsequently, Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq buried the hatchet, with the former seen chatting with the latter during a drinks break.

 

A warm hug between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq followed as both smiled for the cameras.

 

As Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq resolved their differences, social media users began mocking Gautam Gambhir on Twitter, now rebranded as X.

 

Interestingly, Gautam Gambhir is the coach of the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the team Naveen-ul-Haq represents in the cash-rich league.

 

Furthermore, like Naveen-ul-Haq, Gautam Gambhir exchanged unpleasantries with Virat Kohli during this year's IPL event. 

 

After the match, Gautam Gambhir shared his opinion on the famous hug between Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq.

 

“You fight on the field, not off the field. Every player has the right to fight for his team, fight for respect, and fight to win. It doesn't matter which country you belong to or how good of a player you are. The good thing was when we saw Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq in between the overs, we can see that the fight has ended,” Gautam Gambhir said.

 

Like Gautam Gambhir, Naveen-ul-Haq praised Virat Kohli for forgetting the past.

 

“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,” the Afghanistan bowler told 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,” Naveen-ul-Haq added.

 

Virat Kohli, who remained unbeaten on 55 against Afghanistan, zoomed past his idol Sachin Tendulkar to become the leading run-scorer in ICC World Cups, including its ODI competition and T20 versions.

 

Sachin Tendulkar, who participated in only ODI World Cups, finished his illustrious career in the quadrennial event with 2,278 runs, including six tons and 15 half-centuries.

 

The Little Master scored his runs at an impressive average of 56.95. The ‘God of Cricket' did not participate in T20I World Cups.

 

On the other hand, Virat Kohli, who has played 55 matches across the ODI and T20I World Cups, has 2,311 runs in ICC white-ball World Cups.

 

Virat Kohli accomplished the feat in front of his home fans at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi. The former India captain hit an unbeaten fifty following captain Rohit Sharma's blistering hundred to wrap up an easy eight-wicket triumph for India.

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Virat Kohli, who bailed out India from a tricky position in their World Cup opener against Australia, scoring a fighting 85 in Chennai, remained unbeaten on 55 off 56 balls in Delhi.

 

After Afghanistan won the toss and opted to bat, India restricted them to 272/8 on a belter of a track. Former cricketers, including India's 2011 World Cup hero Gautam Gambhir, criticized the curators for preparing such a pitch at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, which had nothing for the bowlers.

 

“You can't make such tracks, which have nothing for the bowlers. Such pitches are bad exhibitions for cricket. There has to be something for the pacers and spinners. Scoring 400 runs or 350 runs will not help the future generations who want to make cricket their profession,” Gautam Gambhir said on air during the match.

 

However, the Indian bowlers, led by pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, kept a tightrope on the Afghan batters throughout their essay. Except for their captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (80) and Azmatullah Omarzai (62), no other Afghanistan batter got going, and in the end, they finished with a below-par score of 272/8.

 

India's response was all about the Rohit Sharma show. The India captain's blitzkrieg was such that Afghan bowlers were left stunned, as they had no answers to his explosive batting prowess at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, formerly known as the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium.

 

Smoking boundaries and sixes at will, Rohit Sharma completed his fifty in just 30 balls before blasting his 31st ODI hundred in only 63 balls.

 

In the process, Rohit Sharma broke former India captain Kapil Dev's milestone for the quickest century in the World Cup.

 

In the 1983 World Cup, Kapil Dev completed a ton in 72 balls. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma touched the milestone in only 63 deliveries against Afghanistan.

 

Subsequently, the India captain lost his wicket to Rashid Khan, but not before he smashed a stunning 131 off 84 balls.

 

With his three-figure score in the national capital, he overhauled Sachin Tendulkar's mark for the most centuries in ICC ODI World Cups.

 

Rohit Sharma's century against Afghanistan was the 36-year-old's seventh in Cricket World Cup history. Remarkably, Rohit Sharma has scored seven tons in only three World Cups in 2015, 2019, and 2023.

 

In contrast, Sachin Tendulkar participated in five editions of the World Cup from 1992 to 2011 for his six centuries. His last World Cup hundred came against South Africa in 2011 when he made a quickfire 111 against South Africa in Bengaluru.

 

Sachin Tendulkar required 41 knocks for his six centuries, while Rohit Sharma accomplished in his 19th World Cup innings.

 

After registering dominant wins in their first two games against Australia and Afghanistan, Rohit Sharma and his boys will face arch-rivals Pakistan in a blockbuster encounter at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on October 14.

Pakistan has never beaten India in a Cricket World Cup fixture, with the neighbors recording a 0-7 record in previous games.