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Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s best spinner, is not included in the preliminary team for the one-off Test match against New Zealand, which is scheduled for September 9–13 at Greater Noida.
In March 2021, Rashid made his debut for Afghanistan in an Abu Dhabi Test match. Rashid’s absence from the team that would depart for India on August 28 to participate in a one-week preparatory camp was not explained in an ACB statement.
Rashid captained the Speen Ghar Tigers in the Shpageeza T20 competition in Kabul. He scored 53 runs off of 26 balls and claimed a wicket in a league match that was cut short last week. Before that, a hamstring injury ended his time with the Trent Rockets in the men’s Hundred.
“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.
Meanwhile, seam-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai, who was included in the preliminary team, is expected to make his Test debut. Although Omarzai has established himself as a regular for Afghanistan in white-ball cricket, he has not been capped in Test cricket and has only played five long-format games in the first class. Sam Billings of England has taken Omarzai’s place in the Antigua & Barbuda Falcons CPL after he was recently fired. The September Test match against New Zealand and the ODI series against South Africa in the UAE will fall on the same day as the CPL 2024.
For their forthcoming series against South Africa and New Zealand, Afghanistan will have R Sridhar as their new assistant coach, while Hashmatullah Shahidi will continue to lead the team. As a member of Ravi Shastri’s support team, Sridhar was India’s fielding coach from 2014 till 2021.
Afghanistan will play their third Test of 2024 against New Zealand, making it their tenth overall and the most they have played in a calendar year.