Afghanisthan’s premier pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has announced his retirement from ODI after the conclusion of this years ICC Mens ODI World Cup in India
Naveen, who is only 24 years old, had been out of the ODI team for two years before making a comeback in the World Cup squad. He has only featured in seven ODIs but has established himself as a key member of the T20I team since his international debut in 2016.
Naveen-ul-Haq has also played in various T20 leagues across the globe, such as the IPL, LPL, BBL and PSL. He took a break from the 50-over format in 2022 to prepare “mentally and physically” for the T20 World Cup last year.
Naveen-ul-Haq was named in Afghanistan’s 15-man squad for the World Cup earlier this month, which was his first inclusion in the ODI setup in more than two years. He is expected to be part of their pace attack along with Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman and Azmatullah Omarzai.
Naveen said on social media that it was not an “easy decision” to retire from ODIs, but one that he made to “prolong my playing career”.
“It has been an absolute honour to represent my country and I would like to announce my retirement from the ODI format at end of this World Cup and will continue to wear this blue jersey in T20 cricket for my country,” he said.
“It hasn’t been an easy decision to make but to prolong my playing career, I had to take this tough decision would like to thank the Afghanistan Cricket Board and all my fans for their support and unwavering love.”
Afghanistan will start their World Cup campaign against Bangladesh on October 7 in Dharamsala.
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