India have always been the ‘big brother’ to Afghanistan, the latest cricketing powerhouse in the subcontinent. Afghanistan are yet to beat India in any format but they have come agonisingly close on multiple occasions but never did an India vs Afghanistan match have an underlying tension between players. Things might be a bit different when these two sides face each other in a World Cup 2023 match at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday. This will be the first time India legend Virat Kohli and Afghanistan’s young pacer Naveen-ul-Haq will come face-to-face after their ugly on-field fight during IPL 2023. India and Afghanistan did play in the Asia Cup but Naveen wasn’t a part of the tournament. The right-arm pacer has made his way back into the Afghanistan ODI squad for this World Cup and looked in decent rhythm in their World Cup opener against Bangladesh in Dharamsala.
But will he be extra charged up when bowling to Kohli? The possibilities cannot be ignored, especially if one remembers what transpired between the two cricketers earlier this year. Naveen, playing for the Lucknow Super Giants, had heated encounters with Royal Challengers Bangalore’s Virat Kohli, while batting. The war of words was so intense that it continued well after the match had finished. It nearly got physical during the customary shake of hands.
Afghanistan captain cites Tendulkar, Dravid’s example to answer query on Kohli-Naveen ugly fight
Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was asked whether the Kohli-Naveen on-field run-in would have an impact on the way the other Afghanistan cricketers see their rivalry against India, which has been their neutral home venue while playing against teams like Ireland.
“See, as you mentioned before also, like India is our home, it was our home, we played here and the people of India give a lot of love to Afghanistan people. And what happened on the ground, that aggression comes to every player, it’s not about India and Afghanistan. So, it can come to everyone,” Shahidi said on the eve of the match.
The left-handed batter also revealed that many of the Afghanistan cricketers have grown up idolizing India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. “So, this happened and still like if you see a lot of our players, we have idols from Indian team like Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. So, there’s not any concern about that,” he added.
Afghanistan not deterred by loss against Bangladesh
Afghanistan did not get off to the best of starts in this World Cup. They were undone by Bangladesh in all three departments of the game but Shahidi is not too concerned about the one off day in the office.
“See this is important as a team, the important thing is when you lose how to deal with that situation – for me and for everyone it’s the important thing. But still, it’s a long tournament we have eight more games, so when you lose if you go down, then that will affect your other games. So as a team, that game is gone from us. Now we are thinking and moving forward and the morale is still not down and we are looking forward to the other games. We have chances to win and that’s inside the dressing room,” he said.
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