Naveen ul Haq IPL Career Stats & Records 2026

Naveen ul Haq IPL Profile: Stats, Records & Career Highlights 2026

Naveen ul Haq is an Afghanistan player who plays for the formerly Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League. (IPL). The date of birth of Naveen ul Haq is September 23, 1999. As of March 2026, he is 26. Naveen ul Haq is a Right Arm Medium Fast from Kabul. He played his first match of the IPL in 2023. The 26-year-old fast bowler has participated in 18 games in the IPL and earned 25 wickets. His best bowling figures in the IPL are 14/372. He played his recent match against the .

Naveen Ul Haq IPL Career Overview – All-time IPL Stats, Records and Achievements

There is a particular type of T20 bowler that captains love to have in their corner, not always the fastest, not always the most intimidating, but someone who thinks while they bowl and sets up a batter then changes pace at the right moment and makes a breakthrough feel almost inevitable. The Naveen Ul Haq IPL career perfectly reflects his style of intelligent bowling.

The Afghan right-arm fast-medium bowler has quietly built one of the more impressive reputations in T20 cricket over the last few years. His action is slinky and difficult to read, his slower ball is genuinely deceptive, and he has a composure in the death overs that most bowlers spend years trying to develop. These qualities have become an important part of Naveen Ul Haq IPL history, where he has often delivered key breakthroughs when it mattered most.

His IPL career has been short with two seasons but Naveen Ul Haq IPL stats already include a four-wicket haul in a playoff match and a bowling strike rate that many specialist bowlers would envy. As of March 2026, a persistent shoulder injury has ruled him out of the ICC T20 World Cup and left him unsold at the IPL 2026 auction. Even so, the work he has already done in the tournament ensures that the Naveen Ul Haq IPL career remains a strong example of how skill and variation can thrive in modern T20 cricket. The Naveen Ul Haq IPL record also includes several match-winning spells that helped his team in high-pressure situations. 

Naveen Ul Haq IPL Debut

The Naveen Ul Haq IPL career began on April 19, 2023  for Lucknow Super Giants which also became the Naveen Ul Haq first IPL team, against Rajasthan Royals.

Across eight matches in that debut season, he claimed 11 Naveen Ul Haq IPL wickets at an average of 19.91 and an economy rate of 7.82. Those are the numbers of a bowler who is not just turning up and filling overs but he is taking wickets regularly and keeping the scoring rate in check at the same time. His best figures of 4/38 announced him as a genuine threat in the IPL, capable of dismantling strong batting lineups through variation and smart bowling rather than sheer pace. Those numbers helped shape the early Naveen Ul Haq IPL stats, establishing him as a genuine threat capable of dismantling strong batting lineups through variation and clever bowling rather than raw pace alone.

By the end of that first season, Naveen had established himself as one of the more reliable weapons in Lucknow's bowling attack.

Naveen Ul Haq IPL Team history 

The Naveen Ul Haq IPL team journey has involved just one franchise: Lucknow Super Giants. He joined them for the 2023 season and continued through 2024, playing 18 matches across those two campaigns. He was released ahead of the 2025 mega auction, bringing his time at LSG to a close but in those two seasons, he consistently delivered in difficult situations and provided the kind of bowling that coaches and captains build plans around. One franchise, two seasons, and enough performances to leave a clear mark on the team's history.

IPL Auction History of Naveen Ul Haq

The beginning of the Naveen Ul Haq IPL career came in the 2023 IPL auction when Lucknow Super Giants signed him for ₹50 lakh, bringing in the Afghan pacer to add variety and experience to their bowling attack. It wasn't a marquee signing by IPL standards, but LSG knew they were signing a bowler with deceptive action, clever variations, and the temperament to bowl in pressure situations without flinching. These skills quickly became visible once he started picking up Naveen Ul Haq IPL wickets during his debut season.

LSG retained him for 2024 at the same ₹50 lakh fee and it was a straightforward decision as he had done the job in his debut season and earned the right to continue. Ahead of the 2025 mega auction, LSG released him, and Naveen entered the pool as a free agent. He went unsold. It was a surprise to many who had watched him take wickets in playoffs and dismantle batting lineups with his slower ball but auction outcomes don't always reflect a bowler's quality. They reflect timing, budget, and squad needs on a particular day.

The 2026 auction brought the same result. With his shoulder injury casting doubt over his availability, franchises held back, and he went unsold again. Two unsold auctions in a row is a difficult position to be in, but it tells you more about circumstance than it does about ability. The performances that earned him 25 IPL wickets across two seasons are still on the record, and those don't disappear because of an auction outcome or an injury setback.

Naveen Ul Haq IPL Performance 

Naveen's IPL numbers paint the picture of a bowler who takes wickets, maintains pressure, and shows up in big moments. The number that stands out most is the bowling strike rate of 15.48. 

Taking a wicket roughly every 15 deliveries across 18 IPL matches is a serious achievement. It means batters rarely get comfortable against him and LSG always had a wicket-taking option available when they needed the game to shift. With the bat, he scored 13 runs which is his highest score and that is absolutely fine for a bowler of his quality. His job is to take wickets, and he does it well.

Naveen Ul Haq IPL Milestones and Achievements

One of the most significant highlights in Naveen Ul Haq IPL history came during the 2023 Eliminator match against Mumbai Indians as his 4/38 performance that encapsulates what Naveen brings to a team in the crucial eliminator match.

Playoff cricket in the IPL is a different beast as the pressure is higher, the margins are thinner, and the batters are more prepared. Naveen bowled through all of it and still came away with four wickets. It stands as one of the finest bowling performances by a Lucknow Super Giants player in a knockout game and confirmed that his regular-season form was not a fluke.

Iconic Moments of Naveen Ul Haq

During a 2023 league match between Lucknow Super Giants and Royal Challengers Bangalore, Naveen was involved in a heated on-field exchange with Virat Kohli. The tension didn't disappear at the final whistle and even got worse when in the handshake line after the match, the confrontation escalated to the point where teammates had to step in and separate them. It became one of the defining talking points of the IPL 2023 season.

Then came the Instagram post. After RCB lost to Mumbai Indians, Naveen shared stories featuring "sweet mangoes" with a reference that most cricket fans immediately decoded as a dig at Kohli. It kept the story alive for days and added a social media dimension to an already heated rivalry. During the 2023 ODI World Cup match in Delhi, Naveen and Kohli exchanged a friendly handshake and a hug in full view of everyone. 

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