Naveen-ul-Haq - the perfect amount of crazy that flies Afghanistan to the semi-final

You look at Naveen-ul-Haq out of the context of cricket and you won't think he's a fast-bowler. He's not the tallest and doesn't have broad shoulders or powerful-looking legs. None of that ever translates into a rhythmic run-up or a photogenic action.

As Afghanistan have rapidly developed as a T20 behemoth, they have needed to overcome their over-reliance on spinners. They have found Fazalhaq Farooqi who can swing the new ball and bowl yorkers at the death. They have Gulbadin Naib, who has one of the best heavy balls in cricket and can rule the middle overs.

But Naveen does none of that. And without doing any of that, he led Afghanistan to the semi-final of the 2024 men's T20 World Cup on a weirdly crazy Monday evening (plus a bit of Tuesday morning) at the Arnos Vale Ground in Kingstown.

When their batting order failed to get to a par score -- just 115/5 -- in the first innings despite winning the toss, Afghanistan needed all the crazy they could find to a) Prevent Bangladesh from chasing the total in 12.1 overs and qualify for the semis, b) Prevent Bangladesh from winning after 12.1 overs and allowing Australia to qualify c) Overcome a gazillion rain breaks and coach Jonathan Trott kicking dust-bins in the pavilion and d) Win, somehow, and go ahead, for the first time.

And Naveen supplied most of the crazy. Rather, he smuggled it.

Buoyed by his first-over wicket of Travis Head in the last game, Rashid Khan gave him the new ball in this defense too, perhaps despite knowing that it's not the same ground and it won't swing. Naveen tried anyway and got smacked for 13 -- over 11 percent of the target in a low-scorer shaved off in the first over. Crazy.

Farooqi reminded him that swing was not his forte by picking Tanzid Hassan in the second over. Because he brought Afghanistan back into the game, Rashid trusted Naveen with six more balls. This time he went back to basics.

After two length balls and a slower one, he bowled the fourth like a loopy off-cutter, inviting a flick from Najmul Hossain Shanto, which was edged to deep square leg. Next ball, he went even slower and made Shakib Al Hasan poke a leading edge back to him. Bangladesh 23/3. Two wickets and six runs in the over. Crazy.

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Naveen-ul-Haq booked Afghanistan's semi-final tickets

Naveen is dainty because he never wanted to be a pacer. He started his cricket as a wicketkeeper-batter. His first attempt to bowl pace failed so he even tried off-spin for a while. Fast bowling came as the last resort after his body was already half-developed. So the screws of the new whiteboard had to be fit in with force.

And now, they make a beautiful art of deception. He isn't restricted by the pace bowling rules and paradigms but bowls whatever suits the game and is needed at that moment. And as he has overcome sleepless nights and performance anxiety in his childhood, pressure hardly makes a difference to his planning and execution.

He has also fought with Virat Kohli in India. That's probably the first don't in do's and don'ts of modern cricket. Despite solving the issue, his identity has been threatened to be reduced to, 'the guy who's booed whenever Kohli comes to bat'.

But he has never wavered from his stance in many interviews since that day. It takes guts and maturity of another level. Something which is also a pre-requisite when you have to constantly move in and out of your war-torn country while growing up, while also witnessing what sport can mean to kids in such a time.

That's why he was brought to bowl before Farooqi in the 17th over, when spinners had reduced Bangladesh to 92/8 but the 10th-wicket stand was refusing to budge, pushing the score to 105, with nine runs needed in as many balls, and taking the Tigers ahead even in DLS calculations.

With rain falling again and Bangladesh looking for risk-free singles, Afghanistan needed a crazy amount of maturity. Naveen brought both attributes, separately. He hurled the third ball, a cross-seamed cutter, at Taskin Ahmed which never got off the pitch, taking an under-edge off his cut and crashing into the stumps.

Bangladesh 105-9. Needing 10 off nine. Litton Das is batting at 50 on the other end.

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Afghanistan's best moment, led by Naveen-ul-Haq

For years to come, Gulbadin Naib's apparent faking of a hamstring injury to delay the game ahead of a rain break would be spoken about in pre-match shows, YouTube compilations, and shared in memes around the world as one of the craziest events in cricket. The antics, according to some, even deserved an Oscar.

What many won't talk about, though, because it wasn't that obvious, was what happened after the rain break that followed the ninth wicket.

As the players made their way in, Mustafizur Rahman stood guard, hoping to survive the over if not get a single. Afghanistan bowling consultant Dwayne Bravo came on the big screen from a side-on angle, standing quietly beside Farooqi.

As soon as the camera took a close-up, he started giving Farooqi clear instructions that Naveen needed to bowl it short, near Rahman's left shoulder. Farooqi forwarded the message and a fielder was placed at short-third man or at '45', aligned perfectly for a short ball on the head to lure a pull, a top-edge, and a catch. Rashid, Naveen, and everyone looked serious and ready for it.

As Naveen ran in, Mustafizur stepped back on the backfoot. The next thing he saw was not the ball, but just air in the region the ball usually is when it's a bouncer. Then he saw the ball, near his pads, floating slowly off the pitch to rap him in front of the stumps. He was out, LBW. The fielders in the deep were starting new laps.

At that moment, ODI and Test champions Australia were escorted off the tournament. And an Afghanistan team, with their lead wicket-taker in the game being someone who got adopted by fast-bowling without a proper pathway in place instead of the other way around, had moved to the semi-finals.

"The quality of fast bowling we have got, it's not as fast but they are more skillful," Rashid said of Naveen and Farooqi after the game. "In T20s, if you have skills, you are more effective. They have given great starts in this World Cup competition so far and it becomes easy for us (spinners) in the middle where we can go hard at the batsmen. So happy the way they have delivered. They were very clear with their mind, that's very pleasing."

These kinds of smart, impactful, and game-breaking performances are what's expected of Jasprit Bumrah in India and Pat Cummins in Australia. Indeed, for bowlers with more than 10 wickets in the 2024 T20 World Cup so far, he's now only behind Farooqi and Bumrah with his bowling average of 11.15.

No matter what magic Afghanistan bring to Trinidad against South Africa, Naveen would bow out of this tournament with his identity transformed. He's no longer the third in a place-holding Afghanistan attack. He's the smartest, the trickiest to play again, the most indispensable, and maybe if Naib allows, the best actor too.