NEW DELHI: Rashid Khan, Afghanistan‘s best leg-spinner, returns to the team for the country’s next ODI series against South Africa, which is set to take place in Sharjah from September 18-22.
Rashid was not there for Afghanistan’s one-off Test match against New Zealand, which has been postponed for four days owing to rain in Greater Noida. He had also missed the previous ODI series against Ireland.
Due to an ankle sprain in his left leg, top-order batsman Ibrahim Zadran will not be available for Afghanistan during this series.The fact that spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman is still recovering from a sprain of his right phalanx causes him to be unavailable as well.
In their place, Afghanistan has brought in Darwish Rasooli, who has seven T20I caps and produced fantastic, consistent performances in the recently concluded SCL9 tournament and the List A Cup, and top-order hitter Abdul Malik, who recently put on some incredible performances in domestic List A competitions.
“Mujeeb Ur Rahman continues to recover from his injury and is unavailable for selection. Ibrahim Zadran will also miss the South Africa ODIs for twisting his ankle on the edge of the New Zealand Test.”
“However, we have included some of the top-performing youngsters in Abdul Malik and Darwish Rasooli. Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar is also a talented cricketer and has demonstrated excellent skills recently and will cover for Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the series,” said chief selector Ahmad Shah Sulimankhil in a statement, as per IANS.
The rest of the ODI squad remains the same that helped Afghanistan beat Ireland 2-0 in a series held in March this year. “Hosting South Africa for the first time in our cricketing history is a huge milestone for Afghanistan Cricket. They are a top-quality side, and playing against them in an ODI series is something we are all excited about.”
“Our team has shown great performances in ICC events over the past two-three years, and we are focused on making our team equally competitive in bilateral cricket,” said Naseeb Khan, ACB CEO.
Afghanistan will play South Africa in a bilateral ODI series for the first time in the forthcoming series. In the 2019 and 2023 World Cups, the two teams have faced off twice in the ODI format, with South Africa winning both times.
Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik