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In violation of his player contract with Sharjah
Warriors, Naveen-ul-Haq “refused to sign the retention notice” for
the tournament’s second season, which is scheduled to take place in January and
February of next year. As a result, the UAE’s ILT20 has banned him for 20
months.
Naveen has signed with Durban’s Super Giants, who are
owned by the same group that owns his IPL team, Lucknow Super Giants, for the
South African SA20 league, which will be played almost concurrently with the
ILT20. This effectively prevents Naveen from participating in the ILT20 in 2024
and 2025.
Warriors, who had signed Naveen on for the inaugural
edition of the league in 2023, had “earlier this year sent him a retention
notice on the same terms and conditions,” an ILT20 statement said.
“Sharjah Warriors approached the ILT20 to intervene in this dispute. The
ILT20 first initiated a mediation process through an independent third-party
mediator, however the mediation failed.”
“We do not take pride in making this announcement
but all parties are expected to comply with their contractual commitments and
recognize that non-compliance can cause damage to the other party,” White
said. “Unfortunately, Naveen-ul-Haq failed to honour his contractual
obligations with the Sharjah Warriors and as such the league had no option but
to impose this 20-month ban on him.
“The disciplinary proceedings against Naveen were
conducted in a transparent manner and both parties involved were given
opportunities to prepare and present their submissions.”
Naveen was one of the better performers for Warriors
in the 2023 season, finishing as their joint-highest wicket-taker (11 wickets)
along with Junaid Siddique. Warriors, however, had a rough time of it, winning
just three of their ten games to miss the playoffs.