Vusumuzi Dube
Brandon Moyo
THE Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has named an 18-member Test team that will face Zimbabwe in a two-match Test series which is scheduled to start on Boxing Day at Queens Sports Club.
The two Tests are pencilled in for December 26 to 30 and January 2 to 5.
The major highlight of the team is the return of Rashid Khan to red-ball cricket. The 26-year old leg-spinner is in line to make his first Test appearance since 2021.
Khan’s last Test appearance was against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi in a two-match series that ended one-all.
Left-arm top-order batter Sediqullah Atal, who has already got ODI and T20I caps to his name, received his maiden Test call-up.
Ismat Alam, a young medium-fast bowling all-rounder, has also been called to the Test squad for the first time after an impressive performance in the Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class Competitions, where he scored 723 runs and took 12 wickets.
The squad comprises a total of seven uncapped players, which also includes the likes of fast-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai, left-arm fast-bowler Fareed Ahmad Malik, and top-order batter Riaz Hassan. They were recently part of the squad for the (washed out) test match against New Zealand but are yet to make their Test Debuts.
AFGHANISTAN SQUAD FOR THE TWO-MATCH TEST SERIES AGAINST ZIMBABWE:
Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Ikram Alikhail (WK), Afsar Zazai (WK), Riaz Hassan, Sediqullah Atal, Abdul Malik, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ismat Alam, Azmatullah Omarzai, Zahir Khan, Zia Ur Rehman Akbar, Zahir Shehzad, Rashid Khan, Yamin Ahmadzai, Bashir Ahmad Afghan, Naveed Zadran, Fareed Ahma
Online Reporter