At midnight of February 05, Afghanistan’s right-arm pacer, Naveen Ul Haq, has put a one-word slamming message for his team-mates ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka, which came after the direct signing of their wicket-keeper opening batter, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, for a team in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026. 

The former champions of the league, Peshawar Zalmi, announced the wicket-keeper batter as their direct signing ahead of the historic PSL auction, scheduled to take place on February 11. The 2017 champions made the announcement through their official social media handles by sharing a graphical poster of the international event, wearing turbans with mountains in the background.

See Also: Sri Lanka warns Pakistan of financial loss for forfeiting India clash in T20 World Cup 2026

Previously, Naveen, Gurbaz, and Mujeeb-ur-Rahman mutually decided not to participate in the upcoming PSL season. Even though Naveen has opted out of it and gone for the County Cricket, Gurbaz has joined a PSL team, while Mujeeb has also put his name in the auction list. Naveen, using his Facebook, put the word ‘Hypocrisy’ in the social media post.

Naveen Ul Haq gives ‘Hypocrisy’ post ahead of T20 WC 2026

Naveen has been a superbly experienced player of the shortest format with 271 wickets in 221 innings at an average of 24.11 and a strike rate of 17.2 with an economy rate of 8.39, thanks to the six four-wicket hauls and one five-wicket haul at the best bowling figures of 5/11 in an innings. He is out of the T20 WC and will have stress surgery for the stress fracture in his right shoulder.

Naveen ul haq Facebook post. 👀

- He posted after gurbaz signing in PSL. pic.twitter.com/8rZ4dqDsms

— ACB Xtra (@acb_190) February 5, 2026

“We are proud to confirm the direct signing of Afghanistan's star wicketkeeper-batter, [Rahmanullah Gurbaz]. Explosive with the bat. Lightning-fast behind the stumps. A gun fielder with extraordinary energy. A warm welcome to the Zalmi Fam.” The post from the Peshawar Zalmi expressed.

Afghanistan will begin their T20 World Cup 2026 campaign against New Zealand on February 08 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai before making their way to the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the second morning clash against South Africa.

The heated moment between Virat Kohli and Afghanistan bowler Naveen-ul-Haq, and then Virat Kohli vs Gautam Gambhir, appeared as top talking points during the IPL 2023 season. After the match, Virat and Naveen-ul-Haq were engaged in a heated situation. Later, Gautam Gambhir, who was then the mentor of Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), also got involved in the matter.

After a couple of years, the on-field moment is still fresh among fans. After years, former India cricketer Amit Mishra, who was in LSG in the 2023 campaign. In a recent YouTube conversation, Mishra claimed that the controversial moment after the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs LSG match was because of Virat Kohli. According to the former cricketer, Kohli said something to the Afghan bowler, after which the situation got intense. Mishra believes that there was no need to restart the argument.

"The issue started after the match was over, during the handshake, when Virat Kohli again abused Naveen-ul-Haq, which escalated the situation. Gambhir stepped in, upset that despite winning, there was no need to restart the argument. I asked him to let it go, but things went out of control," Amit Mishra said.

Read More: Good news for CSK as their young gun recovered from injury ahead of IPL 2026

Amit Mishra blames Virat Kohli for the match after incident

Taking a step further, Mishra criticised Kohli's act regarding the controversial incident. The former spinner compared Kohli's behaviour with Indian cricket legends like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni and said, "Repeated disrespect isn’t good for the game; senior players like Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni never behaved this way."

Later, during international matches, both Virat Kohli and Naveen-ul-Haq looked in terms, maintaining the spirit of the game. Naveen met Kohli in Delhi during Afghanistan's ODI World Cup match against India in October 2023, and the duo surprised the fans by hugging out their differences.

In Match 9 of the Major League Cricket (MLC) season 2025 , MI New York faced Seattle Orcas at the Oakland Coliseum in California. Seattle won the toss and decided to bat first. They put up a big total, but MI New York chased it down confidently to win the game by 7 wickets with an over left.

Batting first, Seattle Orcas scored a strong 200/5 in 20 overs. Kyle Mayers was the star with the bat, smashing 88 runs off 46 balls with some clean hitting. He got good support from Shayan Jahangir, who made a steady innings 43 runs in 34 balls, while captain Heinrich Klaasen added a quick 27 off just 11 balls towards the end.

Among the MI New York bowlers, Naveen-ul-Haq took 2 wickets but gave away 64 runs in his 4 overs. Michael Bracewell bowled tightly and picked up 1/20, and Sunny Patel also did a good job with 1/28.

Chasing 201, MI New York played with calmness and control to win the easy game. They reached the target in 19 overs, finishing at 203/3. Monank Patel led the chase with a brilliant knock of 93 off 50 balls. Michael Bracewell continued his good day with the bat too, scoring a steady 50 off 35 balls. Kieron Pollard then came in and wrapped things up quickly with a blazing 26 off 10 balls.
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For Seattle, Sikandar Raza took 2/37, while Kyle Mayers picked up a wicket but was a bit expensive. Cameron Gannon bowled well and gave away only 13 runs in 3 overs. MI New York’s all-round performance helped theKYLE Mm win the match comfortably and get back to winning ways.

ALSO READ: MLC 2025: Points Table, leading run scorers and wicket takers after NY vs SEA Match 9

Twitter reactions after MINY wins 9th match of  MLC 2025

#MLC 2025 - Match 09#minyvso #minewyork Won by 7 Wickets #MajorLeagueCricket #USA pic.twitter.com/QnCJn3B3Td

— CBMCRICKET (@CBMCRICKET) June 19, 2025

MI NEW YORK registers their 1st WIN
Won by 7⃣ Wickets#SeattleOrcas #AmericasFavoriteCricketTeam #MINYvSO #MLC2025 pic.twitter.com/uSsPIZ8rLV

— CricketAdda🇮🇳(Cricket ki Panchayat) (@Criktalks) June 19, 2025

Stop watching MLC if you are a MINY fan, no way we are chasing those 201 runs with these batsmans 🤡

— 𝕾𝖚𝖕𝖗𝖆𝖙𝖎𝖐☆ (@loyalfan45rohit) June 19, 2025

Well on Under 176 . Mayers had an absolute sitter dropped when he was on 25 off 22 . He scored 63 off next 23 balls .line passed in 18 overs . Just pain #MLC2025 pic.twitter.com/QXUFiMB3hs

— Cricket Tamizhan (@CricketTamizhan) June 19, 2025

MI New York ne dikhaya champion wala game! 🏆
203 runs chase kiye sirf 19 overs mein! 💥

Player of the match " MONANK PATEL "

Seattle Orcas ko 7 wickets se di karari haar! 🔥
Power-hitting + teamwork = Zabardast Jeet! 💙💪https://t.co/7Wm3X0SNBU#MINewYork #MLC2025… pic.twitter.com/xtDMaDBOOo

— SPORTS WIZ (@mysportswiz) June 19, 2025

Raza strikes now

Pooran 6️⃣ and gone

MINY need 49 from 22
Bracewell struggling big time

Need him to hit a few 6’s#MajorLeagueCricket #MLC2025 https://t.co/l4o4sB5LGU

— Karthik Rao (@Cric_Karthikk) June 19, 2025

What a Win. MI New York won by 7 Wickets. What a Performance Michael Bracewell 1/20 (4 Overs) & 50*(35). What a Knock Monank Patel 93(50) and Kieron Pollard 26*(10). Trent Boult ⚡ 1/29.@MINYCricket #MLC2025 #MINYvSO @KieronPollard55 @braceyourself10 @Mitch_Savage

— JaayShaan (VaidhyaJayaShankar) (@JaayShaan) June 19, 2025

Virat Kohli and Naveen Ul Haq’s on-field verbal spat involving Gautam Gambhir has once again made headlines as soon after Amit Mishra’s comments on the topic, Naveen opines on the same matter. However, he is currently playing for Texas Super Kings in the ongoing Major League Cricket 2024.

In a video shared by the Texas Super Kings on their social media account, Naveen Ul Haq admitted that he and Virat Kohli both have forgotten the issue and moved on but social media has some other plans as well.

Naveen Ul Haq said – “That was just the heat of the moment during the match and nothing personal. And I and Virat Kohli both have forgotten & in the ODI World Cup, we finished, hugged and we moved on from that. But social media nowadays keeps these things going on and on”.

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However, his comments came as he was involved in a heated argument with Virat Kohli which also involved Gautam Gambhir during an IPL 2023 game. However, all of them sorted out the issue and moved on. Moreover, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir were also seen hugging and talking with smiles during the IPL this year.

The feud came into the limelight when veteran India spinner Amit Mishra talked about that recently in his interview. Speaking on YouTuber Shubhankar Mishra’s show ‘Unplugged’, Mishra said that it was Gautam Gambhir who approached Virat Kohli and sorted the issues before claiming that Virat Kohli should have been the one to resolve the situation.

“Virat Kohli was unnecessarily abusing LSG players Kyle Mayers and Naveen badly, he could have avoided the fight but he didn’t. I saw a good thing about Gautam. Virat Kohli didn’t go towards him, Gautam went towards him. He went and asked ‘How are you, how’s your family.’ So it was Gautam who ended the feud and not Kohli. So Gautam showed his big heart at that time. It should have been Kohli who should have gone and ended the feud. He should have gone and said ‘Gauti bhai, let’s end this,’” Amit Mishra said.