Less than a month ahead of the T20 World Cup, Afghanistan have faced a massive setback as their star quick performer Naveen Ul-Haq has been ruled out of the three-match T20I series against West Indies next week, along with the T20 World Cup, starting next month. The reports have claimed that he will undergo surgery later this month. 

The Afghanistan Cricket Board is yet to announce a replacement for Naveen-Ul-Haq, but they had named mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar, batter Ijaz Ahmadzai, and seamer Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi in the reserves for the world event. The replacement is expected to come among those three players.

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While the nature of Nabin’s injury is still not known, it’s another blow for him, who last played for the national side in December 2024, after which he featured in SA20 in 2025 and the Major League Cricket in the USA, but was out of the Asia Cup 2025 with a shoulder injury.

Naveen-Ul-Haq got ruled out of T20 World Cup 2026

Naveen made his comeback at the International League T20 last year and played for MI Emirates, which were his last competitive matches. The Kabul-born has overall picked up 67 wickets in 48 innings at an average of under 19 and an economy rate of 7.78 for the Afghanistan side.

However, the pacer comes with a massive experience of the T20 format, having played around the world in various franchise leagues, where he has picked up a total of 271 wickets in 221 innings at an average of 24.11 and a strike rate of just over 17 and an economy rate of 8.39. He has the best bowling figures of 5 for 11 in an innings.

For the MI Emirates, he picked up four wickets in two innings at an average of 14 and then an economy rate of seven with the best bowling figures of two wickets for 27 runs. Meanwhile, their captain, Rashid Khan, has returned from South Africa to join the national side for the West Indies series, which will be a great preparation for the Asian team ahead of the World Cup, which begins on February 7 in India and Sri Lanka.