Naveen Ul Haq played a key role in Afghanistan’s sensational win over Australia in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. He picked up three wickets including the big wicket of the dangerous Travis Head. The left-handed batsman didn’t even open his account and walked back to the dressing room after facing three balls. This is the second time in less than a year that Naveen has dismissed Head for a duck, having previously done so in the Australia vs Afghanistan match of the 2023 ODI World Cup.
After the match, Naveen and Nicholas Pooran took a dig at KL Rahul, who is the captain of the Lucknow Super Giants. Naveen and Pooran play for LSG in the Indian Premier League.
Pooran posted an Instagram story recalling his previous conversation with the Afghanistan pacer. Naveen had expressed confidence in being able to take the wicket of Travis Head with the new ball. “You said, if you get the new ball, you will do it,” Pooran wrote.
“You remember”, Naveen replied.
In IPL 2024, Head was responsible for handing Lucknow its most embarrassing defeat as SRH completed the chase of 166 in 9.4 overs without losing a wicket.
Travis Head (89 off 30 balls) and Abhishek Sharma (75 off 28 balls) completed the task without much trouble. KL Rahul brought on Naveen-ul-Haq in the fifth over, while Krishnappa Gowtham, Ravi Bishnoi and Yash Thakur were bowling before him.