Hashmatullah Shahidi was named captain of the Afghanistan cricket team for the one-off test against New Zealand in India. As per the schedule, the one-off test will be played between September 9 and 13 in Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground, Greater Noida.
Gulbadin Naib is one of the notable misses from the Afghan’s 16-member squad for the New Zealand one-off test.
On the other hand, Naib, a white-ball veteran for Afghanistan who hasn’t played red-ball cricket for the national side was a part of the initial 20-man preliminary squad announced last week but failed to make it into the final squad.
Fast bowler Naveed Zadran also failed to make it into the squad owing to his side strain injury. As per the official statement, the physio has advised him to rest for 3-4 weeks in the hope of getting him up to speed before the ODI series against South Africa in UAE, scheduled to begin on September 18.
Afghanistan has included Ikram Ali Khil and Afsar Zazai as their two wicketkeeping options instead of Rahmanullah Gurbaz who donned the gloves in the last Test – against Ireland in February-March this year.
AFG squad for one-off Test vs NZ: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Ali Khil (wk), Shahidullah Kamal, Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Zia Ur Rahman Akbar, Shams Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masood, Khalil Ahmad.
This will be Afghanistan’s 10th Test match and their first against New Zealand since acquiring Test status in 2017. Afghanistan has previously won three Test matches, each against Ireland (2019), Bangladesh (2019), and Zimbabwe (2021).
The Greater Noida venue is one of those allocated venues for Afghanistan’s home games, following a mutual agreement between ACB and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
