(Source X)
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced a 20-member preliminary squad for the upcoming one-off Test against New Zealand, set to take place at Greater Noida’s Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex from September 9–13. The announcement was made via X (formerly Twitter).
Hashmatullah Shahidi will captain the team, but notable absence is Rashid Khan, who is currently Afghanistan’s T20I captain. Rashid has claimed 34 wickets in just five Test matches to date. His most recent Test appearance was against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi from March 10–14, 2021, where he took 11 wickets, including 7 for 137 in the second innings.
Rashid Khan’s omission from the squad is unexpected, given his current strong form. In his latest match for the Speen Ghar Tigers in the Shpageeza Cricket League against the Amo Sharks, he notably scored 53 runs.
Additionally, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Karim Janat were also left out of the squad. However, the squad does include Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib, and Azmatullah Omarzai.
The 20-member squad is scheduled to depart for India on August 28 and will participate in a one-week training camp in Greater Noida.
Selection committee officials have stated that the final squad will be named at the end of the camp, based on the players’ performance and fitness levels. Ahmad Shah Sulimankhel, 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: “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 test squad for this test match.”
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.”
As per the ACB release, the 20 players selected for the preliminary squad recently participated in an intensive preparation camp in Nangarhar province, which offers conditions similar to those in 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.
