Srinagar: Afghanistan has suffered a major setback as star player Rashid Khan has been ruled out of entire T20 series vs India.
Stand-in skipper Ibrahim Zadran has confirmed that Rashid Khan will miss the three-match T20I series against India starting on Thursday, 11 January.
“He is not totally fit, but is travelling with the team,” Zadran said.
“We hope that he gets fit as soon as we expect him to. He’s doing his rehab with the doctor, and we will miss him in the series.”
Rashid last played in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in October-November last year, and has since been inactive in professional cricket as he continues his recovery from the lower-back surgery.
“Without Rashid, we will struggle but not that much because his experience is very important for all of us, but this is cricket and you should be ready for any kind of situation,” Zadran said ahead of the series.
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“Playing against India on their home soil is a difficult task, but we came here to play well against them and show our skills,” he said.
“We have lots of good T20 players, all our boys are playing good cricket, so I am sure they will play well. We will have a good series against India.”
Afghanistan were also without Rashid in the T20I series against UAE that they won 2-1. They will bank on the remaining spin options within the squad as they prepare for this tougher assignment in India.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, Noor Ahmad, Qais Ahmad and Sharafuddin Ashraf are the other spinners in the squad.