In the Eliminator of the 2023 IPL, LSG was defeated by Mumbai Indians by 81 runs.
The 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) for Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) burned out on Wednesday at the Chepauk Stadium after an 81-run defeat to Mumbai Indians. Lucknow collapsed under Akash Madhwal’s spectacular spell of 5/5 and were all out for 101 runs in response to a total of 182/8, while the fiery Afghanistan all-rounder was the hero for LSG throughout MI’s innings, claiming four wickets for 38 runs.
Since then, LSG has been inundated with trolls, many of whom are directed at Naveen, who had covered his ears as he celebrated his wickets. The brand announced on its Twitter account on Thursday that they have taken certain precautions to protect themselves from the harassment. Along with a snapshot of the phrases that they have excluded from their Twitter conversations, it stated in the article, “Issued in our interest,”
The term “mango” dates back to when Naveen made news for reasons other than his performances. In LSG’s heated league encounter against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on May 1, Naveen famously got into a confrontation first with Mohammed Siraj and subsequently with Virat Kohli. After the game, the duo fought while shaking hands, which led to Kohli clashing with LSG’s team mentor and former India batter Gautam Gambhir.
Since that game, Gambhir and Naveen have been greeted by Kohli chants at almost every stadium in which LSG has played, as well as by away supporters in Lucknow. Naveen never really recovered from the quarrel, tweeting a shot of mangoes with a footage of him celebrating Rohit Sharma’s wicket with the phrase “sweet mangoes.” Naveen published the post shortly after Kohli was removed for one run in a match against MI at the time, prompting many fans to interpret Naveen’s Instagram story as a dig at the former India captain. Meanwhile, MI supporters were outraged, believing that the photo of Naveen celebrating the 35-year-old’s birthday was a blow on their captain Rohit.
This meant that LSG and Naveen have been bombarded with mango-related remarks since their humiliating loss to MI on Wednesday. Even MI players Vishnu Vinod, Sandeep Warrier, and Kumar Kartikeya appeared in a social media picture in which they imitated the three wise monkeys with mangoes in front of them and labelled the photo: “Sweet season of mangoes.” It appeared to have been uploaded by Warrier and was afterwards removed.
