Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) pacer Naveen-ul-Haq was the pick of the bowlers for his side claiming 4/38 against the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL 2023 Eliminator match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Wednesday. But Naveen’s efforts failed to stop his team from losing their second successive Eliminator match, this season by 81 runs as LSG were bundled out at 101 in reply to MI’s 182 for 8.
Afghanistan pacer Naveen once again had to endure chants of ‘Kohli, Kohli’ from the Chepauk crowd. Naveen had heated argument with Royal Challengers Bangalore batter Virat Kohli which was followed by a huge fight between Kohli and LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.
WATCH Naveen-ul-Haq react to ‘Kohli, Kohli’ chants HERE…
Naveen rod today Kohli Kohli chants
credits:kolly na bois #LSGvMI #ViratKohli pic.twitter.com/X7JCoJmIce
— Avenger_ (@AvengersReturn) May 24, 2023
After the RCB-LSG game, Naveen posted Instagram stories of sweet mangoes whenever the Bangalore-based franchise did not perform well in other matches. Naveen had even uploaded a laughing meme video on his Instagram Story after RCB were knocked out of the tournament after losing to Gujarat Titans in their last match.
Last night when MI defeated LSG in the Eliminator, the team’s three players – Kumar Kartikeya, Vishnu Vinod and Sandeep Warrier clicked a photo on the dining table with mangoes. The post was subsequently deleted by the cricketers but it went viral on social media with several users clicking screenshots of the same.
Sandeep and Vishnu posted the photo on their Instagram profile and wrote: “Sweet season of mangoes”. Naveen was also trolled for failing to sacrifice his wicket for batter Deepak Hooda, who was run-out for 15.
The sweet mangoes! pic.twitter.com/BM0VCHULXV
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 24, 2023
Game awareness ZERO.
Sweet mangoes in at no 10 dives to save his own wicket over a middle order batsman
Thinking he himself could win the game and become a finisher and Hero.
Think a thousand times before trolling King .#sweetmangoes #naveenulhaq #MIvsLSG #Karma pic.twitter.com/mfiOTiV7ag
— _______ (@SachinVastrakar) May 25, 2023
Meanwhile, LSG skipper Krunal Pandya blamed his batters for the loss against Mumbai Indians. MI pacer claimed 5/5 in just over 3 overs to bundle out LSG for 101. “We were in a really good position. Everything started when I played that shot… that was not on, and I completely take all the blame,” Pandya said at the post-match presentation.
“The wicket was the same. We just had to bat better, just take that responsibility. But we didn’t do after that break (the first time-out). It’s always a tough decision, it’s just Kyle had a better record here (than Quinton de Kock). We just felt we could go with Kyle. I just thought we could do something different (starting the bowling with spinners),” he added.