Rashid Khan, an Afghanistan leg spinner, has been picked in the 17-man squad to play South Africa in the forthcoming three-match series in the United Arab Emirates. This will be Khan’s first time playing in ODIs since last year’s World Cup in October and November.
Even though they excluded wrist-spinner Noor Ahmad, Afghanistan still lacks the services of mystery spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman, who is still recuperating from a strain in his right index finger. Offspinner AM Ghazanfar, who made his ODI debut in March, “will cover” for Mujeeb against South Africa, according to chief selector Ahmad Shah Sulimankhil.
However, Rashid’s comeback compensates for Mujeeb and Noor’s absence. Rashid’s “ongoing injury” has prevented him from playing red-ball cricket until he receives medical clearance, according to the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), which also ruled him out of Afghanistan’s current one-off Test match against New Zealand.
Following the World Cup last year, Rashid had back surgery. As a result, he lost four months of play, missing matches against the UAE, India, and Sri Lanka, as well as the ODI series against Ireland. Apart from that, Rashid had to withdraw from the SA20, PSL, and BBL before playing in the Ireland T20Is in March.
Following his comeback series with the IPL, T20 World Cup, MLC, the Hundred, and the Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL), Afghanistan’s domestic T20 competition, Rashid has only played T20s since his operation. But in addition to his back problems.
Rashid also had a hamstring injury during a game for the Trent Rockets in the Hundred, which kept him out of action for the final week of the league. He then again experienced back problems at the SCL, where he participated in three games.
For the ODI series against South Africa, Afghanistan has also called up medium-pace bowler Bilal Sami, who is yet uncapped, and top-order batsmen Darwish Rasooli and Abdul Malik. Sami has never represented Afghanistan in any format, despite Rasooli having played seven Twenty20 internationals and Malik having played two Tests.
An ACB release states that Malik was called to relieve injured opening batsman Ibrahim Zadran, who is now ruled out of the ODI series against South Africa due to an ankle sprain that prevented him from playing in the one-off Test against New Zealand.
The three-match ODI series gets underway on September 18. Afghanistan and South Africa have only previously met at the World Cups in 2019 and 2023. This will be their first bilateral ODI series.
Afghanistan will use this series as a warm-up for the Champions Trophy early in 2023, where they debuted after placing sixth in the 2023 World Cup league stage.
Afghanistan Squad for ODIs Against South Africa
Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran, Fareed Ahmad, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan