Announcing retirement during a series is nothing new. Mohammad Nabi did the same during the Bangladesh-Afghanistan ODI series. The Afghan all-rounder will not be seen in ODIs after the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Afghanistan hosted Bangladesh in the United Arab Emirates yesterday in a grand event. The video of the event was posted by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on their official Facebook page. In the video sent by ACB, Nabi announced his retirement from ODI. The board's chief executive, Naseeb Khan, confirmed this to Cricbuzz today. ACB chief executive said, 'Yes. Nabi is retiring from ODIs after the Champions Trophy. He informed the board of his intention.'
The next edition of the Champions Trophy is likely to be held in February-March 2025, although the ICC has not released the official schedule. Naseeb expects Nabi to play regularly in T20 if he leaves the ODI version after this tournament. ACB chief executive said, 'He (Nabi) said a few months ago that he wanted to end his ODI career after the Champions Trophy. We welcome his decision. From what I understand after the Champions Trophy, he is likely to continue playing in T20s. So far there is such a plan.'
Nabi started his ODI career in 2009 with a match against Scotland. This Afghanistan all-rounder has played 165 ODIs in 15 years. Scored 3549 runs in 2 centuries and 17 fifties. Average and strike rate 27.30 and 86.77. He showed how to get the team going in times of danger in the first ODI of the series against Bangladesh last night in Sharjah. After picking up 5 wickets for 71 runs, Nabi contributed to a partnership of 104 runs off 122 balls for the sixth wicket with captain Hashmatullah Shahidi. Nabi scored 84 runs off 79 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes.
Nabi can also change the momentum of the match by taking wickets at important times. In the first ODI yesterday in Sharjah, Nabi started the task of collapsing Bangladesh's innings by returning captain Nazmul Hossain Shanto. Nabi is the highest run-scorer and wicket-taker in ODIs among Afghanistan cricketers—second on both lists. Rahmat Shah is Afghanistan's highest run scorer with 3791 runs in ODIs. Nabi's wicket in this edition is 171. Rashid Khan is the highest wicket-taker of Afghanistan with 192 wickets.
