Gulbadin Naib (born 4 June 1991) is an

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. An all-rounder, Naib bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium. In April 2019, the

Afghanistan Cricket Board The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB; , ; formerly Afghanistan Cricket Federation) is the official governing body of cricket in Afghanistan. It is Afghanistan's representative at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was an associate member ...

(ACB) named Naib the team's new

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

(ODI) captain ahead of the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

, replacing

Asghar Afghan Mohammad Asghar Afghan (; born Mohammad Asghar Stanikzai) is an Afghan former cricketer who had captained the Afghanistan national cricket team. Asghar is a right-handed batsman and a medium-fast bowler. In May 2018, he was named as the capta ...

. However, following the Cricket World Cup, where Afghanistan lost all of their matches,

Rashid Khan Rashid Khan Arman (; born 20 September 1998) is an Afghan international cricketer and captain of the Afghanistan national team in the T20I format. In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide ...

was named as the new captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all three formats. Naib led Afghanistan to the silver medal in the 2022 Asian Games.

Early life and career

Naib was born in Puli Alam in the

Logar Province Logar (Pashto/Dari: لوگر) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the eastern section of the country. It is divided into 7 districts and contains hundreds of villages. Puli Alam is the capital of the province. As of 2021, Logar ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. He made his debut for

against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

in the 2008 World Cricket League Division Five, where he made five appearances. He took part in the documentary '' Out of the Ashes'' which followed the team's preparation for the tournament and their lives back in Afghanistan; Naib is shown body building in a

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

gym and stating

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...

to be one of his inspirations. Two years after the filming of the documentary, following which Naib lost his place in the Afghan side, he was selected as part of Afghanistan's squad for the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

, playing a single match against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. Afghanistan won the

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

in the competition. He made his

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

debut for

when they became the first side to tour

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

since the

2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team The 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team occurred on 3 March 2009, when a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers, part of a larger convoy, was fired upon by 12 gunmen near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Pakistan. The cricketers were on th ...

. Naib played in two of the three unofficial

s (ODIs) against

Pakistan A The Pakistan A cricket team, or Pakistan Shaheens, is a national cricket team representing Pakistan. It is the second-tier of international Pakistan cricket, below the full Pakistan national cricket team. Matches played by Pakistan A are not cons ...

International career

Naib made his

debut against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in the 2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup One-Day. Later in the tour, he made his

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

debut against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

in the Cricket Canada Summer Festival, making a further appearance during that tournament, against Canada. Later in 2011, he played for the newly formed Afghan Cheetahs team in the Faysal Bank Twenty-20 Cup 2011-12, making three appearances in the competition against Rawalpindi Rams,

Faisalabad Wolves The Faisalabad Wolves was a domestic limited-overs cricket team based in Faisalabad, Punjab, Pakistan. The team was established in 2004 and its home ground was Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. The team were champions in the maiden season 2004� ...

and Multan Tigers. He scored his maiden Twenty20

half century This is a general glossary of the terminology used in the sport of cricket. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Certain aspects of cricket terminology are explained in more detail in cr ...

during the tournament, scoring 68 from 42 balls against Faisalabad Wolves. In December 2011, his score of 57 runs from 50 balls in the final of the 2011 ACC Twenty20 Cup helped Afghanistan to an 8-run victory over

, securing Afghanistan their third ACC Twenty20 Cup title. Naib later featured in Afghanistan's first One Day International against a Full Member Test-playing nation when they played

Sharjah Sharjah (; ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is the capital of the Emirate of Sharjah and forms part of the D ...

in February 2012. Naib scored 7 runs in the match, before becoming one of

Shahid Afridi Sahibzada Mohammad Shahid Khan Afridi (, ; born 1 March 197is a Pakistani former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. An all-rounder, Afridi was a right-handed leg spinner and a right-handed batsman. Afridi made ...

's five wickets. Pakistan won the encounter by 7 wickets. He was selected as part of Afghanistan's fourteen man squad for the 2012 World Twenty20 Qualifier held in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in March 2012. During this tournament, Naib made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) debut against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, and made two further T20I appearances, as well as subsequently playing a further six Twenty20 matches against nations in the qualifier who themselves did not hold Twenty20 International status. He scored 86 runs in the qualifier, at an average of 13.50, with a high score of 26

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

. Shortly after the tournament, he featured in two ODIs against the Netherlands in the World Cricket League Championship. In 2012, Naib was a member of Afghanistan's squad for their tour of Ireland as part of their Intercontinental Cup commitments. He played in both of the team's World Cricket League Championship ODIs against

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Although the first match was abandoned due to rain, in the second match he claimed his maiden ODI wicket when he dismissed Niall O'Brien, and scored 19 runs from 23 balls before being dismissed by George Dockrell, Ireland winning the match by 59 runs. He also made his first-class debut during the tour in the Intercontinental Cup fixture, which saw Naib dismissed for 13 runs in his only innings of the match by Alex Cusack, while in Ireland's first-innings he took the wicket of Andrew Balbirnie to finish with figures of one for 33 from six overs. In August 2012, Naib featured in Afghanistan's second ODI against a full-member when they played

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

at Sharjah. In Australia's first-innings of 272/8, he bowled two overs which conceded 18 runs, and during the innings he ran out

David Hussey David John Hussey (born 15 July 1977) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. Hussey is a right-handed batter and can also Bowler (cricket), bowl right-arm off breaks. He is the younger brother of former Australian cricketer Michael ...

. In Afghanistan's chase, he scored a quickfire 22 from 17 balls, which included three sixes, before he was dismissed by James Pattinson, Australia winning by 66 runs. During the match, Naib was named in Afghanistan's squad for the World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka in September 2012. He scored 44 against England, and was the only Afghan batsman to pass double figures as the English won by 119 runs. In April 2019, he was named as the captain of Afghanistan's squad for the

. In May, just ahead of the World Cup, in the second ODI against Ireland, Naib took six wickets for 43 runs. It was his first

five-wicket haul In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batter. Takin ...

and the third-best figures by a bowler for Afghanistan in ODIs. On 24 June 2019, in the match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, Naib played in his 100th international match for Afghanistan. In the same match, he also scored his 1,000th run in ODI cricket. In September 2021, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

. In May 2024, he was named in Afghanistan’s squad for the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

tournament. During Super 8 match against Australia during the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Naib came in as eighth bowling option for Afghanistan and registered his career best bowling performance by picking 4 wickets conceding only 20 runs in his four over spell to propel Afghanistan to secure a historic win over the Australian side in international cricket. He also went onto become the first bowler in either Men's T20 World Cup or Men's ODI World Cup history to take four wickets in a World Cup innings after coming in as the 8th bowling option.

T20 franchise career

In September 2018, Naib was named in Balkh's squad in the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. The following month, he was named in the squad for the Sylhet Sixers team, following the draft for the

2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League The Bangladesh Premier League 2019, also known as BPL Season 6 or United Commercial Bank Ltd, UCB BPL 2019 Powered by TVS Motor Company, TVS (for sponsorship reasons), was the sixth season of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), the top level p ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naib, Gulbudeen 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Logar Province Afghan cricketers 21st-century Afghan sportsmen Asian Games silver medalists for Afghanistan Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2010 Asian Games Cricketers at the 2014 Asian Games Cricketers at the 2022 Asian Games Afghanistan One Day International cricketers Afghan Cheetahs cricketers Afghanistan Twenty20 International cricketers Pashtun cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Boost Defenders cricketers Balkh Legends cricketers Sylhet Strikers cricketers Dhaka Dominators cricketers Delhi Capitals cricketers Afghan expatriate cricketers in Bangladesh Afghan cricket captains