After nearly a month-long quarantine, Melbourne Stars and Afghanistan import Zahir Khan is going to see his first action of the Big Bash Twenty20 league on Saturday. (More Cricket News)
The 22-year-old left-arm leg-spinner will play for the Stars against the Sydney Sixers in a grand final rematch which Sydney won last season by 19 runs.
The coronavirus pandemic hit at a bad time for Afghanistan cricket and the country has not played a match in any format since March.
In that time, one-off tests against Ireland and Australia were called off, with the Australia match now scheduled for the start of next summer Down Under.
“Everyone in Afghanistan is very excited about that test,” Zahir told Australian Associated Press.
“It's hard because every player needs to play a high standard of games against big teams. Our team doesn't have that much experience in test cricket, so we need more games in tests.”
Zahir says Afghanistan will also play tests in 2021 against Zimbabwe and Ireland.
Afghanistan's team includes regular BBL names Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Zahir.
They have an one-day international series against Ireland next month, meaning Zahir's time in Australia could be curtailed if selected for the Ireland series.
He also could have started playing earlier, if not for having to restart his quarantine after Mujeeb tested positive to the virus after three days in quarantine.
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