After Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) faced a defeat in the IPL 2023 Eliminator against Mumbai Indians (MI), the team’s social media handles have taken steps to protect Naveen-ul-Haq, who has been the target of online trolling by fans. Naveen-ul-Haq’s impressive performance, which included dismissing prominent players like Rohit Sharma, Cameron Green, Suryakumar Yadav, and Tilak Varma, could not prevent LSG from crashing out of the tournament.
Fans of Virat Kohli, who was involved in altercations with Naveen during a match between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and LSG on May 1, seized the opportunity to troll the Afghan pacer. Since the incident with Kohli, Naveen has been subjected to significant online abuse and trolling. Following Kohli’s dismissal for just one run against Mumbai Indians in another IPL match, Naveen posted an Instagram Story showing him watching the MI vs. RCB clash while enjoying a plate of mangoes. He captioned the story as “Sweet mango’s.”
As Mumbai Indians closed in on a commanding victory, Naveen posted another story, this time captioned, “Round 2 with these. One of the best mangoes I have ever had,” taking an apparent dig at RCB and Kohli after their failure to qualify for the playoffs. In response to the backlash, LSG’s social media team has muted words and emojis related to mangoes, including ‘Mangoes,’ ‘Mango,’ ‘Sweet,’ and ‘Aam.’ By muting these terms, LSG aims to avoid receiving notifications of tweets containing these words or seeing tweets that include them.
The move by LSG is a precautionary measure to shield Naveen from the heavy trolling and maintain a positive online environment. With the rapid growth of social media, it has become increasingly important for sports teams and players to manage their digital presence effectively, ensuring that they can focus on their performance without being distracted by online negativity.
As the IPL season progresses, it remains to be seen how LSG handles the aftermath of the trolling and supports their players amid the online challenges.
