KABUL: Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq announced to retire from ODI cricket after the conclusion of the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023, scheduled to commence on October 5.
Naveen, 24, who made his ODI debut in 2016 and represented Afghanistan in seven matches, made the announcement on his Instagram account.
“It has been an absolute honour to represent my country would like to announce my retirement from ODI format at end of this World Cup and will continue to wear this blue jersey in t20 cricket for my country,” wrote Naveen-ul-Haq.
“It hasn’t been an easy decision to make but to prolong my playing career had to take this tough decision would like to thank [Afghanistan Cricket Board] and all my fans for their support and unwavering love,” he added.
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For the unversed, Naveen-ul-Haq last represented Afghanistan in an ODI game back in 2021 and was initially left out of their squad for the ICC World Cup 2023.
In January last year, the right-arm pacer said that he was taking a break from the 50-over format and was consequently not picked in the Afghanistan since then.
He was then named in the Afghanistan squad for the ICC World Cup 2023, to form a part of their pace attack along with Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman and allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai.
It is pertinent to mention that Naveen-ul-Haq picked up 14 wickets in his brief ODI career at 25.42 with the best bowling figures of 4/42 which came against Ireland in 2021.
Afghanistan will kick off their ICC World Cup 2023 campaign against Bangladesh on October 7 after their warm-up fixtures against South Africa on September 29 and Sri Lanka on October 3.
Afghanistan squad for ICC World Cup 2023: Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil,Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Abdul Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-Ul-Haq
Reserves: Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fareed Ahmad
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