After Kohli’s record-breaking century on Sunday, AB de Villiers tweeted, “Virat is there when we need him.” The G and F of the renowned KGF collapsed, as did the rest of the middle order, in a game that was either won or lost for Royal Challengers Bangalore at home against the reigning champion Gujarat Titans.
However, Kohli fought solo against the talented Gujarat bowlers, marching alone, and eventually completed his second straight century in IPL 2023. The playoffs appeared to be within reach for RCB. Shubman Gill in especially at GT, however, had other ideas. He also hit a second consecutive century, following Kohli, as RCB missed out on the final rounds.
๐๐ฎ๐น๐บ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐. ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฒ. ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ!
We march into the #TATAIPL Playoffs with our heads held high! ๐@hardikpandya7 | #RCBvGT | #AavaDe pic.twitter.com/HWehOPqg9W
— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) May 22, 2023
And right after it was confirmed that Mumbai Indians are going through and RCB is not, Kohli’s bitter rival from Afghanistan Naveen Ul-Haq took to Instagram and in a way dissed and made fun of RCB and Kohli for not being able to qualify for the play-offs.
Naveen Ul Haq's Instagram story. pic.twitter.com/J53mHrfQ4o
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 21, 2023
The Eden Gardens audience mercilessly launched verbalย assaults towardsย the LSG pacerย on Saturday, just like they had done to him at Lucknow when they had been taunting him through obnoxious “Kohli” chants. He wasn’t permitted to breathe at either of the locations once. The audience tried to divert him while he was playing each time.
Additionally, the crowd was at his ears while he fielded. However, neither Naveen nor the LSG star were responsible for keeping the conflict going on social media. One of these postings appeared on Sunday just after RCB fell by six wickets at the Chinnaswamy. He posted a video of a prominent African reporter saying, “God have mercy upon us,” before laughing, on Instagram.
naveen ul haq tumhara rail banaya jaayega! Behaving like a troll mf pic.twitter.com/GX0vIxpTUc
— BALA (@erbmjha) May 21, 2023
Meanwhile, the Qualifier 1 will take place at Chepauk between First placed Gujarat Titans and second placed Chennai Super Kings with the winner going straight to the Finals. In the eliminator, Lucknow Super Giants will take on Mumbai Indians.