Naveen-ul-Haq continues to be in the news after the match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Lucknow Supergiants. After the debate with Virat Kohli, his videos and pictures are becoming fiercely viral on social media. The BCCI has also fined him 50 per cent of his match fee for breaching the IPL code of conduct.
This fast bowler from Afghanistan has been in discussion in the IPL due to the dispute with Virat Kohli more than his bowling. Let’s know who is Naveen ul Haq and how he reaches into IPL.
Naveen-ul-Haq is from Afghanistan
Born in Kabul in 1999, Naveen spent most of his childhood in Pakistan. Due to the war situation in Afghanistan, his family lived in Pakistan. At this time Afghanistan team was not even an associate team and India was Naveen’s favorite team. He adored players like Irfan Pathan, S Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan.
He used to fight with his brother
Naveen used to play tape ball cricket with his brother since childhood, he was a wicket-keeper batsman. However, there was always a rift between the two brothers and both played against each other. When Naveen saw a leather ball for the first time, he decided to become a bowler and pursue a career in cricket. On getting his brother’s help, his father also agreed and Naveen got admission in the cricket academy.
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Naveen started very simple, but with time he became a better bowler. Soon after his return from Pakistan, he was playing for the Afghanistan under-16 team at the age of 11. When he turned 15, he became a part of the national under-19 team. At the age of 17, he made his debut for the main team of his country and after that there was no looking back.
This is how he played in IPL
With 14 wickets in seven ODIs for Afghanistan and runs at an economy rate of just 5.79, Naveen caught the eye of IPL franchises in no time. He has so far taken 34 wickets for his country in 27 T20s and has given runs at an economy rate of 8.11. He has been a consistent performer in T20I leagues around the world.
For this reason, his name was also included for the auction in the IPL auction. However, apart from Lucknow, no team placed bets on him and he was sold for his base price of 50 lakhs.
In the IPL, he has taken seven wickets in four matches so far and has given runs at an economy rate of just 6.12, but he has come into the limelight after his spat with Kohli.