Afghanistan superstar Rashid Khan is a doubtful starter for the first Test against Zimbabwe, which is scheduled to start on the 2nd of March in Abu Dhabi. He suffered a finger injury in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL). The 22-year-old leg-spinner was playing for the Lahore Qalandars and in the game against Quetta Gladiators, he was hit on his finger by a shot from Chris Gayle.
Rashid was picked up by the Lahore Qalandars as the platinum player in the PSL draft in January, earlier this year. However, he was supposed to miss a large part of this sixth edition of the PSL but this injury has cut short his stint to just two games. He is now in a race against time to be fit for the first Test. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) and the team management will take a call on Rashid’s fitness and availability later this week.
Meanwhile, Rashid Khan is under-treatment by the relevant health officials in UAE and the final call on his inclusion in the first test will be taken after a reassessment of his injury on 28th February,
the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) was quoted saying in a media release.
Shahidullah Kamal, Amir Hamza, and Zia ur Rehman are the other spinners in the Afghanistan Test squad. The likes of Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Qais Ahmed, and Noor Ahmad are currently playing in the PSL and haven’t been named in the Test squad. It’ll be interesting to see if the selectors name any one of them as Rashid’s replacement should the star leg-spinner miss the first Test.
Both games of the two-match Test series will be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The first one starts on the 2nd of March while the second game starts on 10th. Meanwhile, the Test series will be followed by a three-match T20I series at the same venue.
