Former Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi may not retire after the 2025 Champions Trophy. Instead, he may continue until he plays alongside his son, Hassan Eisakhil.
Nabi had retired from Test cricket in 2019 to extend his limited-overs career. In November 2024, he had told that he would retire from ODIs after the 2025 Champions Trophy. However, in a recent interview with the ICC, Nabi said that he might reconsider his decisions.
Nabi: I might play ODIs beyond Champions Trophy
“I’m still thinking [about the future],” said Nabi. “These might not be my last ODIs. I will probably play less ODIs and give chances to the youngsters to build experience. I’ve discussed with the senior players and in the high-level games, maybe or maybe not, we’ll see. It will depend on my fitness.”
One of the early stalwarts of Afghan cricket, Nabi led them at the 2015 World Cup (as well as in the 2014, 2021, and 2022 T20 World Cups). From 170 ODIs, he has 3,618 runs and 172 wickets, many of them before Afghanistan became a Full Member. In all men’s ODIs, only 12 cricketers have both more runs and more wickets than Nabi.
Now 40, Nabi himself has been in form: “The preparations for the Champions Trophy have been good. I did three sessions with the national team in Abu Dhabi so I’m in good shape. Winning the BPL [with Fortune Barishal] gave me more confidence, from a tough position in the final. In the whole tournament, we did really well and my performances were good as well, bowling and also batting, I helped finish the job in four or five matches.”
Nabi: Hope to play alongside son
Nabi now harbours dreams of playing for Afghanistan alongside his son, Hassan Eisakhil, who has already played for Afghanistan at the Under-19 World Cup. "It's my dream. Hopefully we can do it. He is doing very well,” said Nabi. “He is a hard worker and I'm also pushing him to do work.
"I want him to make his own goals, if you want to get to be a high-level cricketer, you have to work hard. It’s not enough to make 50 or 60, you have to score 100-plus. He’s listening and pushing all the time. When he can talk to me, I try to give him advice to give him confidence for the game.”
No father and son have played international cricket together. The closest occurrence took place at the 1979 ICC Trophy (when Claus Morild and his son Carsten played together for Denmark), but these matches did not get ODI status. Denmark even finished top four (two teams qualified for the World Cup), but that was it.
