Rashid Khan not in Afghanistan’s preliminary squad for one-off Test against NZ

Afghanistan’s ace spinner Rashid Khan is not part of their preliminary 20-member squad for the one-off Test against New Zealand, which will be played in Greater Noida from September 9 to 13.

Rashid last featured in a Test match for Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in March 2021. A statement from the ACB didn’t specify the reason for Rashid’s absence from the squad that will leave for India on August 28 to undergo a one-week preparatory camp.

Rashid was recently in action in the Shpageeza T20 league in Kabul as as Speen Ghar Tigers’ captain. Last week, he hit 53 off 26 balls and picked up a wicket in a truncated game in the league. Prior to that, his stint with Trent Rockets in the men’s Hundred was cut short by a hamstring injury.

“Twenty 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,” Ahmad Shah Sulimankhel, the chief selector said.

Seam-bowling allrounder Azmatullah Omarzai is in line to make his Test debut, meanwhile, after being named in the preliminary squad. Omarzai has established himself as a regular in white-ball cricket for Afghanistan but is uncapped in Test cricket, and his first-class experience is also limited: he has played just five long-format games so far. Omarzai was recently pulled out of his CPL stint with Antigua & Barbuda Falcons, with England’s Sam Billings replacing him. CPL 2024 will overlap with the Test match against New Zealand and the ODI series that follows against South Africa in the UAE, also in September.

Hashmatullah Shahidi was retained as captain while Afghanistan will have a new assistant coach in R Sridhar for their upcoming series against New Zealand and South Africa. Sridhar had served as India’s fielding coach from 2014 to 2021, working as a part of Ravi Shastri’s support staff.

The Test against New Zealand will be Afghanistan’s 10th overall and their third of 2024 – the most they have so far played in a calendar year.

Afghanistan preliminary squad for one-off Test against NZ

Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhil (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.