Virat Kohli fans show no mercy on Gautam Gambhir and Naveen-ul-Haq after RCB star’s historic century vs SRH in IPL 2023
Records galore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium as run-machine Virat Kohli lived up to his ‘chase master’ tag in the recently concluded encounter between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Thursday.
The talismanic batter of the Bangalore-based franchise fashioned RCB’s impressive win over SRH in match No.65 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at Hyderabad. With Kohli playing a majestic knock against SRH, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) star Naveen ul-Haq and franchise mentor Gautam Gambhir were mercilessly trolled by fans on Twitter.
Not long ago, Kohli had an on-field altercation with the LSG star during the ongoing edition of the cash-rich league. Naveen and Kohli exchanged words following RCB’s win over LSG on May 1. The tension spilled over and Gambhir also had a heated exchange with Kohli.
Days after the infamous incident involving the two players, Naveen is believed to have taken a sly dig at Kohli through his Instagram stories during RCB’s match against Mumbai Indians.
After Kohli struck a brilliant century to strengthen RCB’s playoff bid on Thursday, fans and followers of the game were quick to hit back at the Afghanistan pacer.
Here is how Kohli fans mocked Gambhir and Naveen after the RCB great’s century vs SRH in IPL 2023
Earlier, Kohli and his ex-India teammate Gautam Gambhir had reignited their decade-old IPL rivalry with an ugly face-off after Bangalore’s away match against Lucknow. Not only with LSG mentor Gambhir, but Kohli also had a go at Lucknow players Naveen and Kyle Mayers as his on-field scuffles created a ruckus in Indian cricket during the league stage of IPL 2023. While Kohli and Gambhir were fined 100% of their match fees, Naveen admitted to the Level 1 offence under Article 2.21 of the IPL Code of Conduct in the aftermath of the ugly bust-up between the star players.
Talking about the action-packed encounter between RCB and LSG, Kohli ended his four-year drought for an IPL century at Hyderabad. Nicknamed King Kohli, the 34-year-old had recorded back-to-back golden ducks against SRH in the IPL 2022. Making a triumphant return against SRH in IPL 2023, Kohli smashed a match-winning century to seal Bangalore’s thrilling win over the 2016 champions.
The former RCB skipper matched Chris Gayle’s iconic feat of smashing the most centuries in the IPL since the inception of the celebrated tournament. Kohli and Gayle have smashed six centuries each in the cash-rich league. In a match where Heinrich Klaasen notched up his maiden IPL century, Kohli played a blinder of a knock to help RCB hammer SRH by 8 wickets. The batting icon was named the Player of the Match for his 63-ball 100 against Hyderabad.