Naveen to retire from One Day cricket after the World Cup

Naveen ul-Haq, the 24 year old cricketer of Afghanistan, has stunned everyone by announcing his decision to retire from one day cricket applicable right after the world cup in India.

Naveen’s decision has got many eyebrow raised

Before Afghanistan could even plunge into their world cup campaign, Naveen’s retirement came as a surprise & shocker to many. More than the decision, timing of the announcement calls for a controversy. It seems there is a clear disconnect between the chief of selectors & Naveen. Usually such crucial decisions are discussed among the parties within the board well in advance.

Naveen voluntarily stepped down from ODIs since the beginning of 2021

Naveen was called into the ODI world cup after staying in exile for a prolonged gap of 32 months. He last represented Afghanistan against Ireland in the ICC Super League way back in the month of January in 2021. Time & again at different stages of his career, Naveen has expressed reluctance to play this format. In an extremely short ODI career, Naveen has taken 14 wickets in 7 appearances at an economy of 5.78.

The shocking decision came just after the official jersey for the world cup was unveiled

Naveen took to Instagram to announce his retirement from ODIs just after ACB unveiled their official jersey for the world cup. Nav was struggling with a knee injury since the past one year. Probably that has forced him to think about managing the white ball career wisely. He chose to stick with the demand of so many global leagues including the prestigious IPL apart from national T20I commitments. Naveen, with a heavy heart also thanked the cricket board & fans for their unwavering love & support.

A one time attempt to repair the fragile slog over bowling?

We can’t really say at this moment if there was a pre-understanding between Haq & the team management to consider him one last time to balance the fragile state of slog over bowling. In this area, Afghanistan has not been performing up to the mark for quite some time & is not at all settled. Naveen’s variations at the death are considered to be an asset & fans whole heartedly welcomed the decision to bring him back into the fray. But much to their dismay, Naveen has decided to give ODIs a pass to elongate his T20 career after this world cup.