Between Naveen-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli, the issue was a high-profile on-field spat that began in IPL 2023 and later cooled down, with both players eventually making peace.

Quick Scoop: What Happened Between Naveen and Virat?

  • The incident started during the IPL 2023 match between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Lucknow on 1 May 2023.
  • Naveen-ul-Haq (playing for LSG) and Virat Kohli (then with RCB) got into a heated verbal exchange during the game, especially in the later overs when Naveen was batting.
  • After the match, things escalated during the post‑match handshake when, according to Naveen, Kohli grabbed his hand forcefully and said something to him, and Naveen “gave it back.”
  • LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir then stepped in, and the confrontation spread, with Gambhir and Kohli also arguing face‑to‑face before teammates and umpires separated them.

What Each Side Says

  • Naveen later said in interviews that he “didn’t start the fight,” claiming Virat began it during the handshake and that he would not accept abuse from anyone.
  • Reports from that time mention Kohli sledging Naveen on the field and being unhappy with LSG’s previous celebrations (like Avesh Khan throwing his helmet), which had already created tension between the teams.
  • After the game, Naveen also posted cryptic social media content – including stories and a video implying that arguing with a “fool” is a waste of time – which fans widely interpreted as indirect digs at Kohli.

How It Turned Into a Big Trending Topic

  • The spat became one of the biggest talking points of IPL 2023, heavily dissected on TV, social media, and forums as fans took sides over who was at fault.
  • Memes, threads, and forum posts focused on:
    • Kohli’s aggressive persona and on‑field intensity
    • Naveen’s replies and cryptic posts
    • Gautam Gambhir’s involvement and his own history with Kohli
  • For a while, every new Instagram story or interview from Naveen was read as a fresh chapter in the feud, keeping the topic trending long after the match.

On forums, you’d often see comments like: “Kohli is just being Kohli” vs “Naveen has every right to stand up for himself,” reflecting how split fan opinion was.

Did Naveen and Virat Patch Things Up?

  • During the 2023 ODI World Cup, in the India vs Afghanistan match in Delhi, cameras caught Kohli and Naveen smiling and hugging, appearing to bury the hatchet in front of a loud crowd.
  • That moment cooled tensions significantly; many fans saw it as the formal end of the fight narrative between the two.
  • Even later, when Naveen was asked fun hypothetical questions (like whether he would prefer to bowl to Kohli or bat with him), he joked that he had already bowled to him and would choose to bat with him, hinting that relations were no longer openly hostile.

Where Things Stand Now (Latest Context)

  • The original flashpoint is still remembered as a classic modern IPL controversy, but both players have moved on professionally.
  • In later interviews, Naveen has revisited the story mostly to clarify his side – that he won’t accept abuse and that the sledging began from the RCB side – rather than to reignite the feud.
  • On‑field, they’ve faced each other again (including in international cricket), and the focus has shifted more to the cricket than the argument.

Simple one‑line answer

Naveen-ul-Haq and Virat Kohli had a fiery on‑field verbal clash in IPL 2023 that escalated post‑match and drew in Gautam Gambhir, but they later publicly reconciled during the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.