New-look Afghan squads for Bangladesh tour

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) yesterday announced squads for next month's only Test against Bangladesh and the T20I tri-series involving Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, with leg-spinner Rashid Khan as captain in both formats.

The Test will be played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram from September 5 to 9. The tri-series is scheduled to get underway from September 13, with the final to be played in Mirpur on September 24. Afghanistan opener Mohammad Shahzad is not part of any squad as he was suspended for 12 months after breaching the ACB's code of conduct during the World Cup.

Moreover, the selectors had a tough time picking the squad as only seven players passed the yo-yo fitness test, according to reports in ESPNCricinfo.

Shapoor Zadran has made it to the Test team while Mujeeb Ur Rahman has been left out. Ikram Ali Khil has replaced Shahzad in the whites and Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been picked to do the job behind the stumps in the T20Is. The selectors have picked some format specialists as well who are not part of both the squads. Only Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Asghar Afghan feature in both Test and T20I squads.

SQUADS

Test: Rashid Khan (capt), Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Ihsanullah, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Zahir Khan, Javed Ahmadi, Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai, Afsar Zazai (wk), Shapoor Zadran, Qais Ahmad.

T20I: Rashid Khan (capt), Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai, Najeeb Tarakai, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Shahidullah, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Fareed Ahmad, Shafiqullah, Fazal Niazai, Dawlat Zadran, Naveen-ul-Haq, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk).