Afghanistan fast bowler Naveen ul Haq volunteered for an opportunity to bowl the new ball and seized it with both hands. The right-arm pacer is hogging all the limelight after bowling his side to their maiden semifinal of a World Cup as his exploits helped Afghanistan see off Bangladesh.
Naveen, who took a break from ODIs following the last World Cup to concentrate on the shortest format, single handedly took the game away from the jaws of Bangladesh by removing last two batters Taskin Ahmed and Mustafizur Rahman with successive deliveries to help them earn a eight-run win over their Asian neighbours.
However, it was not the only time he impacted the game considering he decided to prove his worth with the new ball after removing opener skipper Najmul Hossain and Shakib Al Hasan with successive deliveries in the third over to inject some belief into the Afghan camp after they made only 115.
Those two wickets inside the power play certainly came as a huge relief for Naveen who had asked for the new ball from his captain Rashid Khan ahead of their game against Australia and repaid the faith by getting two wickets – Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh – before removing Aston Agar to play a big role in their historic win over the Aussies that was overshadowed by the brilliance of Gulbadin Naib.
Until that point, Afghanistan had the likes of Fazalhaq Farooqi, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai bowl with the new ball in the tournament. The absence of Mujeeb, who is known to be prepared to bowl with the new ball, certainly seemed to have an impact on the overall balance of the bowling unit.
Cricbuzz understands that the Afghan team management had debates over the new ball pair once Mujeeb was out of the equation. Naveen, who picked seven wickets coming in as first change (apart from the game against West Indies where he came as second change bowler), had approached the captain before the Australia game to bowl with the new ball and the move worked.
“Yes, bhai it is true (I wanted to bowl with the new ball),” Naveen told Cricbuzz after the game against Bangladesh. West Indian legend Dwayne Bravo, who joined the Afghanistan team as a bowling consultant, ahead of the ICC T20 World Cup, admitted about the development during a chat with ICC and seemed impressed to see Naveen coming up with the courage of taking the new ball and deliver.
“Impressing to see was Naveen ul Haq. There was a little debate about who should bowl the first over in a game and who should bowl with the new ball and he put his hand up. He chose that he wanted to bowl the first over and he chose anyone to bowl and he did exactly what he said is going to do and not many people can do that,” Bravo said in a video uploaded by ICC.
“That is a special talent and a special gift to have the talent and that self belief that ‘hey I wanted a new ball and I am going to go around the wicket and I am going to do this’ and it happens,” he said.
The Afghanistan team management would be eager to see Naveen shine with the new ball when they take on South Africa in the semi-final as well to ensure the fairytale continues.
