Rashid Khan misses out as Afghanistan name preliminary squad for New Zealand Test
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced a 20-player preliminary squad for their historic one-off Test against New Zealand, scheduled for September in Greater Noida, India.
Afghanistan recently reached the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 semi-finals, where they lost to South Africa. Many players from that team are included in this squad, but star spinner Rashid Khan is missing due to a hamstring injury he sustained while playing in The Hundred earlier this month.
Hashmatullah Shahidi will captain Afghanistan in their first-ever Test match against New Zealand. The squad will travel to India on August 28 and be trimmed to 15 players after a week-long training camp.
The ACB CEO expressed excitement about the inclusion of young players who have performed well in domestic cricket and will get a chance to play in this Test match. He also looked forward to a competitive match against the strong New Zealand team.
Here is the preliminary 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
- Yama Arab
