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Afghanistan Preliminary Test Squad Against New Zealand
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have announced a preliminary squad of 20 players for a one-off Test match against New Zealand next month. The Test match will be held in Greater Noida, India from September 9 to13.
Led by captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, the 20 players will travel to India on August 28 for a week-long training camp. The squad will then be down-sized to 15 at the completion of the camp. Those 15 players will go ahead for the clash against the Kiwis.
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Many players that helped the nation reach the semi-finals of the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup have been included in the Afghanistan preliminary Test squad against New Zealand.
The Missing Stars
However, top Afghanistan crickets have been missing from the list of Afghanistan preliminary Test squad against New Zealand . The most notable is their star all-rounder Rashid Khan. He last played a Test match for Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi in March 2021. Despite his absence from the Test squad, he has remained active in the other formats of the game.
While the ACB has not disclosed the reason for the absence of Rashid Khan, the spinner did sustain hamstring injuries while playing in England’s domestic The Hundred tournament earlier this month.
Other star players like Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Karim Janat, too, do not feature in Afghanistan’s preliminary squad.
Debutant
Azmatullah Omarzai, the seam-bowling all-rounder, is set to make his Test debut after being included in Afghanistan preliminary Test squad against New Zealand. While he is a regular for Afghanistan in white-ball cricket, Omarzai is yet to play a Test match and has limited First-Class ventures with just five long-format games under his belt.
Captain
Hashmatullah Shahidi will continue as the skipper for the Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming series against New Zealand.
The Test against New Zealand will be Afghanistan’s 10th overall red-ball game and their third match of 2024, the most they have played in a calendar year so far.
“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. 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 the Black Caps and Afghanistan”, ACB chairman Mirwais Ashraf said on the announcement of Afghanistan preliminary Test squad.
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