Fact-Check: Did Naveen Ul Haq Apologise to Virat Kohli After a Fight During IPL?

Haq's manager told The Quint that there was no truth to the claim and that Haq has not issued an apology.

Social media users are sharing a statement where Afghan cricketer Naveen Ul Haq – who plays for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) – has purportedly apologised to Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, after a public argument during a match between the teams on 1 May.

What is the claim?: A photo showing Haq speaking to the media is being shared to claim that he issued a statement of apology, saying "My sincere apologies to Virat Kohli Sir. He's the Brand of Cricket and I'm not even dust of his Foot. (sic)"

The claim is viral on social media platforms. The Quint received queries for its verification on its WhatsApp tipline.

(Archives of more claims can be seen here, here and here.)

But...?: The claim originated for a Twitter account parodying Mufaddal Vohra, who regularly shares cricket-related updates.

• Speaking to The Quint, Haq's manager rubbished the claim that Haq had apologised to Kohli.

How did we find out?: Many of the claims on Facebook shared a screenshot of a tweet with the username 'mufaddal_vohra6'.

• We looked for tweets shared by or sent to this username, which led us to an account called 'All about cricket', which had shared the same post on 25 May.

• Currently, its username is '@cricket1871' but on clicking on the tweet, the username matched the one in the claim.

• The account had hidden several replies to the tweet, many of which had mentioned that the tweet was 'fake'.

• We looked for archives of posts shared by '@mufaddal_vohra6', where we saw that same post being shared.

• In the archived version of the page, this user's handle reflects as 'mufaddal_vohra6', its name reads Mufaddal Vohra and the account's bio reads "Parody account of Mufa."

Did the real Mufaddal Vohra tweet this?: Mufaddal Vohra's original Twitter account has the username '@mufaddal_vohra'.

• We went through this account's tweets to look for the tweet from the claim, but we did not find it.

• However, we came across another tweet which shared the same photo of Haq, where he commented on people chanting Kohli's name.

• Here, Haq's statement reads that whenever he hears people chanting other teams' or cricketers' names, it gives him "passion to do well" for his team.

Naveen Ul Haq (on 'Kohli, Kohli' chants) said, "I like that everybody in the ground is chanting his name or any player's name. I enjoy it. It gives me passion to do well for my team". pic.twitter.com/Iyqt6Ozqec

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) May 25, 2023

But, did he apologise?: We found no evidence that the Lucknow Super Giants player had apologised for a heated exchange of words with Kohli, after their teams played each other on 1 May.

The Quint got in touch with Haq's manager, who categorically denied the claim saying, "Whatever is coming in the media about this is b******t."

If Haq had apologised for the fight, there apology or statement would have been carried by news organisations.

On Naveen Ul Haq's verified Instagram account, we saw the player share a story about reporting a Twitter account with a blue tick.

The now-suspended Twitter account with Haq's name had shared a tweet apologising to Kohli.

Conclusion: Afghan cricketer Naveen Ul Haq did not apologise to Indian cricketer Virat Kohli after they fought during a match between their respective IPL teams on 1 May.

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