Was ‘sweet mangoes’ post directed at Kohli? Naveen makes sassy revelation | Cricket

Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq may have buried the hatchet in touching moment during their ODI World Cup meeting in October in New Delhi, however the mystery behind that viral “sweet mangoes” post on Instagram is yet to be solved. But all until now. Speaking to IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants on their YouTube channel, Naveen has lifted the lid over the Instagram story which was allegedly aimed at Kohli. But was it?

It had happened just days after the infamous spat between the two cricketers during their IPL 2023 meeting in Lucknow. The incident which started in the final phases of RCB’s win against LSG stretched to post-match scenes where they shared an intense handshake before being separated by their respective teammates and was followed by a war of words between the former India captain and then LSG mentor Gautam Gambhir.

A few days later, during RCB’s IPL match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium, Naveen later shared a story on his Instagram, captioning it “sweet mangoes.” The story also showed that Naveen was watching RCB’s match on TV. Although, there was no mention of Kohli in the post, the sheer timing of it being shared on social media right after the former RCB batter’s dismissal left fans thinking that it was aimed at him.

On Saturday, speaking to LSG ahead of the IPL 2024 auction, Naveen revealed the story behind the post.

“I had told Dhaval bhai (LSG team logistics) that I wanted to eat mangoes. And he got mangoes that night itself. When we went to Goa, he brought mangoes. So I was sitting in front of the screen and eating mangoes. There was no picture or anything (of Kohli), it was a Mumbai Indians player on the screen. So I wrote ‘sweet mangoes’ and everyone took it in a different way. So even I didn’t say anything, I just left it. I thought it was mango season, so people’s shops should also do well,” said Naveen.

The Afghanistan fast bowler, who retired from ODIs at the end of the World Cup last month, has been retained by LSG for the 2024 season. Lucknow have released eight players ahead of the auction namely, Jaydev Unadkat, Manan Vohra, Swapnil Singh, Daniel Sams, Karan Sharma, Arpit Guleria, Suryansh Shedge, Karun Nair.