Afghanistan’s hard hitting opener Hazratullah Zazai has been ruled out of the T20 World Cup 2022 tournament owing to injury. The Afghanistan cricket team has named Gulbadin Naib as a replacement for Hazratullah Zazai in the Afghanistan squad.
Hazratullah Zazai Ruled Out of T20 WC 2022
Naib who is a travelling reserve was named as a replacement after Zazai was ruled out due to an abdominal muscle strain.
Zazai, who holds the record for the second-highest score in the history of men’s T20I cricket for his brilliant 162* against Ireland in Dehradun in 2019, has been battling an abdominal and kidney concern and has been ruled out for the remainder of the tournament.
The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.
The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 consists of Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager – Cricket (Chair); Chris Tetley, ICC Head of Events; Peter Roach, Cricket Australia, Shane Doyle, Men’s T20 World Cup Local Organising Committee; Shaun Pollock (Independent) and Ian Bishop (Independent).
Afghanistan take on Sri Lanka in Brisbane on Tuesday and need a win there and from their final game of the tournament against Australia in Adelaide on Friday to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Afghanistan squad
Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Gulbadin Naib, Usman Ghani. Standby Players: Afsar Zazai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rahmat Shah.
