Twenty minutes before the opening T20I game against India during the recently-concluded three-match series at Delhi in September, Afghanistan pacer Naveen-ul-Haq was left shattered.
Naveen was hoping to make an international comeback against India after a gap of more than two years, having recovered from a shoulder injury. However, a recurrence of the injury rendered him unfit just before the start of the series.
“It was shattering,” Naveen told Cricbuzz recently. “Just 20 minutes before the toss (against India during the opening T20I) the first injury flared up,” he said.
“When you’ve been working on your fitness, shoulder rehab, rebuilding for nine months, and then when you are minutes away from the first match after nine months… and after almost two years since I played for Afghanistan.
“It’s quite challenging. You have so much patience, you work so hard, you come out of all these hardships, rehab, and loneliness, and then just 20 minutes before the toss, you get this setback again.
“It’s tough, but at the end of the day, it is what it is. As I said before, this is life now, I chose cricket, and within that, I chose fast bowling. So it won’t be a surprise that there won’t be injuries or surgeries or rehab. There are very few fast bowlers, or perhaps none at all, who haven’t had surgery, rehab, or repeated injuries. So I will accept it, and I will keep on moving. There is no point in looking back and feeling sorry.
“I didn’t play because I didn’t want to take a risk. I felt something (in my shoulder), so I withdrew,” he added.
Naveen hasn’t played for Afghanistan in two years, or any professional cricket since December 2025. His career has been on pause following a stress injury in his right shoulder, which ruled him out of this year’s T20 World Cup. The stress fracture healed itself within eight to ten weeks but his recovery process prolonged as he had a second surgery for labrum repair as the shoulder capsule had to be tightened.
“I was traveling all day, either playing for the national team or getting free from there and playing in different leagues. Suddenly an injury comes and then you are either in the gym or with the physio,” said Naveen.
“It’s quite difficult, to be honest, because this has been going on with me for a long time. At the end of the day, one cannot show sympathy or feel sorry for what is happening to me.
“As a cricketer, as a professional athlete, as a fast bowler, you have to accept all these things with the glamour and traveling and luxurious life. It’s part and parcel of being a professional cricketer so you have to accept it and be mentally prepared that you might miss different leagues, miss the World Cup, Asia Cup and all that stuff.
“The important thing for me is that I am 27, and I have seven to eight more years of cricket left in me that I can play at the highest level. Till 34 to 35, it’s your peak time, and then you can just hang up your boots and say that’s it, that’s my time,” he said.
“But for those six to seven years that I want to play, I need to work hard and I need to suffer from all this. It is what it is now and I can’t just sit at home and feel sorry for myself. I have to cope with this and I have to get back and find a way to come back.”
Naveen is looking to find a way to come back despite the struggles, and Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had a stint with him during his time in the IPL, came forward to support.
“After the third T20 against India, I was on the ground sitting alone. I spoke to GG (Gautam Gambhir) Sir about it (injury) after he asked me what had happened and why I didn’t play,” he said.
“GG bhai was our coach in Lucknow in the IPL, and to be really honest, it helped me quite a lot to have that 20-25 minutes of chat with him. I opened up to him about my thinking at that point and how it was affecting me, of coming back after nine months and then suddenly getting injured again. That chat helped me to not dwell on my problems and feel sorry for myself.
“The conversation was about cricket, and it was a bit about how I was going through this challenging phase. I was a bit down initially when I spoke to him. That chat changed my perspective of how to rebuild again and go again.”
Now, Naveen is not in a hurry to prove anything and isn’t in a rush to make a comeback.
“To be honest, these things are not coming to my mind – like what I have to do when I join the Afghanistan team and whether I will have a place in the XI or not, or how the comeback will be.
“I trust my skills, I know what I am capable of, everyone knows what level of cricket I have played and what my skill set is and what my past performances are. For me, it doesn’t matter if I come and prove myself to someone.
“I will give my all in my rehab and my rebuilding. Even if I am not picked, it is not the end of the world for me. There are lots of different opportunities in league cricket where you can show yourself again. I believe in my skill and I know when I am fully fit and bowling those four overs with that match intensity, there will be no team where I will doubt myself,” he said.
“I haven’t set any targets for myself. I will continue my rehab, strength work, and build-up again. I haven’t set any timeline as I don’t want to put pressure on myself that. This time, if I have to come back to cricket, international cricket or league cricket, I need to have 100-120 percent assurance on my fitness, on my shoulder. Only then will I make a comeback so that I don’t have to hear anyone say, ‘What’s his fitness level? Will his shoulder pop out or not?’ I want to get this done and over with and then make a comeback.
“Life has taught me that one day you will have a great game, and the second day you will have a very bad game. So you have to keep yourself level-headed. That’s what life has taught me – here are going to be ups and downs,” he concluded.
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