Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has declared their preliminary squad for the one-off Test match against New Zealand, starting on September 09 in Greater Noida, as the biggest news among the 20 members is the absence of their T20I captain and the most famous player- Rashid Khan.
The last game of the longest format for the veteran came more than three years ago when he faced Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi. Rashid Khan finished with four wickets in the first innings before adding seven more in the bag during the second innings, as his team marked a historic victory by seven wickets.
The leg-spinner has picked up 34 wickets in five games at an average of 22.35 and a strike rate of nearly seven and a half overs, celebrating four five-wicket hauls. However, he hasn’t been a regular member of the first-class system, having flown around the world for various T20 leagues.
Back injury rules Rashid Khan out of the New Zealand Test
It’s the back injury that has ruled the 25-year-old out of their preliminary squad to face New Zealand a couple of weeks later. The team management confirmed that Rashid Khan had suffered the injury while involved in the Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL) for the Speen Ghar Tigers (SGT), the country’s domestic T20 tournament.
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All three games for the leg-spinner came on back-to-back days from August 18, where he picked up six wickets at an average of under ten and an economy rate of just over five. In the third encounter, he also blasted 53 runs in just 26 balls out of the team’s total of 112 in a short game against Amo Sharks.
It was that very game when he experienced pain in his back, which kept him out of action for the Tigers’ next fixture a couple of days later. The Nangarhar-born also was in the same situation during last year’s ODI World Cup in October-November, which had ruled him out of the game for nearly four months before he made a comeback in March through a T20I series against Ireland.
After playing the whole Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Rashid Khan went through the T20 World Cup 2024 in the West Indies and the United States of America, leading the side and finishing them at the semi-final stage.
A week before returning home for this domestic T20 tournament, he suffered a hamstring strain while representing Trent Rockets at the Hundred, which kept him out of their last two games of the season.
“Twenty players have been selected for the training camp, and a 15-member squad will be selected to play the only Test match against New Zealand after observing their performance and fitness.” The chief selector of ACB, Ahmad Shah Sulimankhel, expressed. This is going to be their tenth red-ball game overall and third of 2024, which is the most they have played so far in a calendar year.
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The home side has already started their training in Greater Noida before the Blackcaps arrive in the first week of September. Some of their players will miss the CPL 2024 which is clashing with the series.
Afghanistan’s Preliminary Squad For One-off Test vs New Zealand
Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ziaurrahman Akbar, Shamsurrahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masoud, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad, Yama Arab.
