Gulbadin Naib

Gulbadin Naib is an Afghan international cricketer who was born on 16 March 1991 in Puli Alam, Logar, Afghanistan. Naib is a batting all-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm fast-medium as well. He has played both ODIs as well as T20Is for Afghanistan and was even appointed as their ODI captain in 2019 but was replaced soon after. Currently, he plays for Balkh Legends in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL).

Gulbadin Naib made his debut for Afghanistan against Japan in the 2008 World Cricket League Division Five, where he made five appearances. He took part in the documentary ‘Out of Ashes’ which followed the team's preparation for the tournament and their lives back in Afghanistan; Naib is shown bodybuilding in a Kabul gym, stating that Arnold Schwarzenegger is 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, playing a single match in the games against Hong Kong.

Naib made his ODI debut against Canada in the 2011-13 ICC Intercontinental Cup. Later in the tour, he made his T20 debut against Trinidad and Tobago in the Cricket Canada Summer Festival. In December 2011, his score of 57 runs from 50 balls in the final of the 2011 ACC T20 Cup helped Afghanistan to an 8-run victory over Hong Kong, securing Afghanistan their third ACC Twenty20 Cup title. He was then selected as part of Afghanistan's fourteen-man squad for the 2012 World T20 qualifier held in the United Arab Emirates in March 2012. During this tournament, Naib made his T20I debut against the Netherlands and made two further T20I appearances.

In July 2012, Naib was selected as part 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. 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. Naib was then named in Afghanistan's squad for the World T20 in Sri Lanka in September 2012.

In April 2019, he was named the captain of Afghanistan’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. 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 and the third-best figures by a bowler for Afghanistan in ODIs. On 24 June 2019, in a match against Bangladesh, Naib played in his 100th international match for Afghanistan. In the same match, he also scored his 1,000th run in ODI cricket.