The Afghanistan team management has picked three spinners – fingerspinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and wristspinners Rashid Khan and Zahir Khan – in their 15-man squad for their historic inaugural Test, against India in Bengaluru from June 14.
While Mujeeb and Rashid are coming off successful IPL stints with Kings XI Punjab and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively, left-arm wrist spinner Zahir is returning from a finger injury that ruled him out from an IPL stint with Rajasthan Royals (RR). Zahir was part of the Afghanistan squad that reached the semi-final of the Under-19 World Cup 2018 in January-February this year.
Apart from Zahir, the pacer Wafadar is the only uncapped player to be selected in the Test squad. Afghanistan will miss the services of the veteran pacer Dawlat Zadran because of a knee injury.
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The second-most experienced player in the squad is Asghar Stanikzai who will be leading both the Test and the T20I squad that will play Bangladesh in three games in Dehradun from June 5. They will have experience in allrounder Mohammad Nabi, wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad, Rahmat Shah and Hasmathullah Shahidi for the Tests.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan selectors have chosen a young squad for the three T20Is against Bangladesh in Dehradun, with only five of the Test players retained for the series that starts June 3. Under-19 batsman Darwish Rasooli earned a maiden national call-up on the back of strong performances at the World Cup, while Najib Tarakai was recalled after a huge gap of 15 months.
Afghanistan’s initial squad has just concluded a set of practice matches in Greater Noida, following which the final squad was named by a chief selector and former captain Nawroz Mangal.
Test Squad: Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Javed Ahmadi, Ihsanullah, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Nasir Jamal, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afsar Zazai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Hamza Hotak, Syed Shirzad, Mohammad Yamin Ahmadzai, Wafadar, Zahir Khan
Squad for Bangladesh T20Is: Asghar Stanikzai (capt), Najeeb Tarakai, Usman Ghani, 4 Mohammad Shahzad, 5 Mujeeb Ur Rahman, 6 Najibullah Zadran, 7 Samiullah Shinwari, 8 Shafiqullah Shadaq, 9 Darwish Raooli, 10 Mohammad Nabi, 11 Rashid Khan, 12 Gulbadin Naib, 13 Karim Janat, 4 Sharafuddin Ashraf, 15 Shapoor Zadran, 16 Aftab Alam
