The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce their 20-member preliminary squad for the upcoming one-off Test against New Zealand in Greater Noida starting on September 9. (More Cricket News)
The Afghans will host the Kiwis in a Test match that will be played at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex from Sept 9-13.
Hashmatullah Shahidi, who also led the Afghans in the 2023 ODI World Cup, is captaining the side but there was no spot for Rashid Khan. The T20I expert, who is the captain of their T20 side, has claimed 34 wickets in 5 Tests so far. Rashid's last Test match came against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi on March 10, 2021.
In that game, Rashid picked up 11 wickets that included a best of 7/137 in the second innings.
However, ACB spokesperson Sayed Naseem Sadaat, confirmed to Cricbuzz that Rashid was rested rather than ignored. He said, "Rashid was injured recently. He was given three to four weeks rest and although he played number of Shpageeza T20 matches, for longer format he is not healthy enough( to take the load),"
"That's why we will be waiting for him and we hope he will return for the three-match ODI series against South Africa," he said.
Apart from Rashid, the likes of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Karim Janat were also ignored from the preliminary squad. However, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib, and Azmatullah Omarzai were named in the list.
The 20-member squad will leave for India on August 28 and will have a one-week preparation camp in Greater Noida. The ACB officials stated that the final squad will be announced at the end of the camp. Ahmad Shah Sulimankhel, who is the Chief Selector, said, "20 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.”
ACB Chairman Mirwais Ashraf said, "“I am happy to see some youngsters in the squad who performed well in domestic cricket and have gotten the opportunity to be part of the squad for this Test match.”
Ashraf further added He further added that ACB is delighted to be embarking on its maiden bilateral event with New Zealand which is a quality side in test cricket and looks forward to a competitive event between black caps and Afghan Atalan.”
The press release from the ACB stated that the players had also taken part in a preparation camp in Nangarhar province too that carry similar condition to India.”
Afghanistan’s squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhel (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, and Yama Arab.
