The Afghanistan Cricket Board rested Rashid Khan for the upcoming one-off Test against Bangladesh as they announced their 15-member Test squad that includes three uncapped players – pacer Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai and Nijat Masoud along with young legspinner Izharulhaq – for the game that is scheduled to begin at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium from June 14.
The absence of Rashid came as a surprise considering he was the wrecker in chief in the last Test between the two countries picking 11 wickets to help them earn the historic win over the hosts in Chattogram in 2019.
Rashid recently skipped the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka but came back to play the final game that his side lost. “He(Rashid) was rested from the lone Test match against Bangladesh as he played too much non-stop cricket and we do not want to take risk with him taking his back injury into consideration,” Raees Ahmadzai, Afghanistan assistant coach, confirmed on Wednesday (June 7).
Medium-pace bowling All-rounder Karim Janat, who put on an incredible all-round performance in the recently-held Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class Tournament and was awarded the best player of the tournament, has also been called up to the side.
Afghanistan Squad for the one-off test against Bangladesh:
Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Afsar Zazai (WK), Ikram Alikhail (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Abdul Malik, Baheer Shah, Nasir Jamal, Karim Janat, Zahir Khan, Izharulhaq Naweed, Hamza Hotak, Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai, Yamin Ahmadzai and Nijat Masoud.
