Rashid Khan rested as Afghanistan announce squads for Zimbabwe Test and T20Is
KABUL: The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced its squads for the upcoming one-off Test and three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, scheduled from October 20 to November 2 at the Harare Sports Club. Left-arm fast bowler Bashir Ahmad, who recently represented Afghanistan in ODIs and T20Is and was part of the previous Test tour to Zimbabwe, retains his place in the Test squad.
The Test squad also sees the inclusion of promising talents such as right-arm fast bowler Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, left-arm spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf, and right-arm leg-spinner Khalil Gurbaz, who impressed in the domestic red-ball season. Additionally, left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder Shahidullah Kamal has been named in both the Test and T20I squads.
Star leg-spinner Rashid Khan will be rested as a precaution to manage his workload and maintain peak performance ahead of upcoming international fixtures. The reserve pool includes fast bowlers Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai, Sediqullah Atal, and Shams Ur Rahman. In the T20I squad, middle-order batter Ijaz Ahmadzai, who made his T20I debut earlier this year, returns to the side. Shahidullah Kamal, who had a standout performance in the SCL season, has also been drafted into the T20I squad. ACB CEO Naseeb Khan highlighted the board’s ongoing efforts to strengthen the national cricket structure and elevate the team’s performance on the international stage. Emphasising the progress made in both domestic and international arenas, he reflected on the positive outcomes of the board’s long-term strategic planning
“Alongside our domestic cricket and high-performance programs, we have successfully implemented our plans in international cricket. We are now consistently playing bilateral series one after another, and the outcomes of our long-term efforts have been very positive.” “Following the Bangladesh series hosted by ACB, our national team will travel to Zimbabwe to play a Test and a T20I series. Subsequently, we will continue to compete in series against other countries in sequence,” he added.
Series Schedule (Harare):
October 20–24: Only Test
October 29: 1st T20I
October 31: 2nd T20I
November 2: 3rd T20I. Web Desk
