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'India Is Our Home,' Afghan Skipper On Rivalry Between Virat Kohli & Naveen-ul-Haq 

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Afghanistan has played most of its home games on Indian soil and considers it as one of Asia’s powerful cricketing powerhouses. Afghanistan have never beaten India across any format but the two teams have certainly seen some close clashes go down the wire. However, there has never been an underlying tension between players from either side.

But this time around, that popular belief is likely to be challenged as Afghanistan prepares to take on India at the Arun Jailtely Stadium on October 11. Naveen Ul Haq got involved in an in-famous on-field altercation with Virat Kohli in this year’s IPL edition which took the cricketing fraternity by storm. They are likely to come face-to-face for the first time since their IPL 2023 debacle on the global stage.

The right-arm pacer made his way back into the Afghanistan ODI World Cup squad and looked in sublime rhythm in their World Cup opener against Bangladesh in Dharamsala. However, when the two come head-to-head things can flare up once again just like what happened at the IPL this year. Nevertheless, fans will wait in anticipation for the epic showdown to unfold between Virat Kohli and Naveen Ul Haq which holds numerous possibilities.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi was asked whether the Kohli-Naveen on-field spat will have any impact on how the other Afghanistan cricketers view their rivalry against India. He responded by saying that the team enjoys playing a lot of cricket in India and indicated that the clash that took place can happen to any player at the personal level.

"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.”

Afghanistan will view their upcoming fixture against India as a normal game. The team has been winless since the 2015 World Cup edition and are desperately looking to find ways to put an end to their woeful ODI World Cup run.