Afghanistan dropped Gulbadin Naib from their 16-man squad for the upcoming one-off Test against New Zealand, starting on September 9 as well. Naib, the veteran for Afghanistan, hasn’t played Test cricket for the national side yet but he was part of the 20-man preliminary squad that the cricket board announced last week as well. Following a camp in Greater Noida, the board shared the list down to 16 on Friday as well.

Speedster Naveed Zadran will also miss the Test due to a side strain injury. The board has stated that the physio has advised him to rest for 3-4 weeks before the ODI series against South Africa in UAE, slated to begin on September 18 as well.

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The other two who failed to make the cut are Yama Arab, the 17-year-old pace bowler and left-arm speedster Farid Ahmed Malik. Afghanistan picked Ikram Ali Khil and Afsar Zazai as their two wicketkeeping options, even as Rahmanullah Gurbaz donned the gloves in the last Test – against Ireland earlier this year as well. Noor Ali Zadran is the other notable player who won’t be featured in that fixture as he announced his international retirement in March as well.

The Test against New Zealand will be played in Greater Noida which is the team’s 10th in the format as well.

Afghanistan squad for one-off Test vs New Zealand:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), 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.