The fast bowler of Afghanistan, Naveen-ul-Haq, is sidelined for the whole T20I series of three matches against the West Indies and also the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. This is a decision taken after the captain, Rashid Khan, and the team management have to consider a different strategy. Naveen-ul-Haq is to be operated on in the coming month and what injury he has has not been disclosed.
Naveen-ul-Haq is a major loss for the Afghanistan team that is focused on their goal to go beyond the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2024 and capture the first ICC title. He has also been the leading wicket-taker in T20I with a total of 67 wickets in 48 matches at an average of 18.73. His last game with the national team was in December 2024. In the following year, 2025, he was outstanding in Major League Cricket (MLC) but injury stopped him from participating in Asia Cup 2025. His last competitive game was in ILT20 for MI Emirates.
A replacement for the Afghanistan Cricket Board has yet to be declared. Meanwhile, mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar, batter Ijaz Ahmadzai, and seamer Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi have already been named in the Afghan T20 squad for the World Cup 2026.
To take a look at three significant contenders for the thing which can happen and that is the replacement of Naveen-ul-Haq with the Afghanistan T20 World Cup 20026 squad.
Allah Ghazanfar
Allah Ghazanfar, the mystery spinner, is among the new talents of Afghanistan. He can turn the match with his amazing control and would be a great asset on Indian pitches that will be friendly to the spinners. His two five-wicket hauls in just 14 ODIs reflects his wicket-taking capacity. Even though the T20I stats are not very impressive, with just 2 wickets in 5 games, besides the 6.00 economy rate that shows his control, all is good and he can do more. To add to his experience, Ghazanfar has played in different leagues like ILT20, CPL, T20 Blast, and even IPL 2025 contract with Mumbai Indians (MI) was also awarded but injury ruled him out.
With Afghanistan to take on their T20 World Cup 2026 group stage games on those spin-friendly pitches in India, and given that Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi are already part of the squad, Ghazanfar’s inclusion in the travelling reserve must make him a pretty strong contender.
Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi
Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi made a splash last year by taking 7 wickets on Test debut against Zimbabwe in Harare – becoming the first Asia fast bowler to do so. It’s worth noting though that his T20 experience is still pretty limited, just the one game under his belt with some decent figures of 2/21 at an economy rate of 10.50. But Zia’s domestic T20 form does show some promise – 44 wickets in 37 innings at an economy rate of 9.20.
The tall right-arm seamer is actually over in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) for the 2025-26 season where he has picked up 7 wickets in 6 games so far at a 9.33 economy. As a right-arm bowler he’ll bring an extra bit of variety to the pace attack and should complement Fazalhaq Farooqi ‘s left-arm swing nicely. It’s already pretty clear that the team management are banking on him, so much so that he’s already been included in the T20 World Cup 2026 reserve squad. So it wouldn’t be a huge shock if he finds himself ahead of Naveen ul Haq in the running for a spot in the full squad.
Fareed Ahmad
When it comes to high-stakes games it’s often said that experience beats youth every time – and Fareed Ahmad has certainly got the years under his belt. He made his T20I debut way back in 2016. But the problem for Fareed has been patchy game time – which hasn’t helped him live up to his potential. However he’s shown he can still cut it with a three-wicket haul against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2022 and then 3/20 against India in that edge of your seat double super over in Bengaluru in ’24. And then there was his role in the 2024 T20 World Cup squad which made it all the way to the semi-finals.
As if that wasn’t enough, Fareed won the SA20 with Sunrisers Eastern Cape in ’23-24 and also laced up his boots for the ILT20 with MI Emirates. But perhaps the thing that’ll tip the balance in his favour is his experience of being part of a T20 World Cup squad and making it to the semis last time out – that 2024 campaign is bound to count for a lot in his case.
