Greater Noida, Aug 30 Star spinner Rashid Khan has not been included in Afghanistan's 20-member preliminary squad for the one-off Test against New Zealand to be played here from September 9-13 because of a back injury, a source close to the team said.
Rashid has been withdrawn from Afghanistan's 20-player and is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the country's National Academy in Kabul, sources close to the Afghanistan cricket team told IANS on Thursday.
Rashid is not part of the 20-member preliminary squad named by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) for the one-off Test against New Zealand. The 20-member squad reached India on Wednesday and had the first training session of a one-week preparation camp in Greater Noida. Afghanistan will name their final squad at the end of the camp, considering players' performance and fitness.
But before that, Rashid had to withdraw from the match because of the injury and fitness issues.
Sources claimed that Rashid is more focussed on white-ball cricket rather than the red-ball version to manage his fitness. The star spinner is a cricket itinerant and figures in most of the top franchise cricket leagues around the world.
Afghanistan preliminary squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhel (wk), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ziaurrahman Akbar, Shamsurrahman, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Nijat Masoud, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad and Yama Arab.
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