Rashid Khan rested for one-off Test against Bangladesh

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) rested Rashid Khan for the upcoming one-off Test against Bangladesh. On Wednesday, they announced a 15-player Test squad that includes three uncapped players - pacers Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai and Nijat Masoud, and young legspinner Izharullah Haq.

Rashid's absence was surprising given that he was the wrecker-in-chief in the previous Test between the two countries, picking 11 wickets to help them earn a historic triumph over the hosts in Chattogram in 2019. And this will surely give some relief to the Bangladesh team.

Rashid recently skipped the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka but returned to play the final game that his side lost.

"He(Rashid) was rested from the lone Test match against Bangladesh as he played too much non-stop cricket and we do not want to take a risk with him taking his back injury into consideration," Raees Ahmadzai, Afghanistan assistant coach, was quoted saying on Wednesday.

Ahmadzai went on to say that they are excited to witness how their young spin prodigy Izharullah handles the pressures of international cricket.

Medium-pace bowling All-rounder Karim Janat, who put on an incredible all-round performance in the recently-held Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class Tournament and was awarded the best player of the tournament, has also been called up to the side.

The match will begin on 14 June at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Afghanistan Squad for the one-off test against Bangladesh:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Afsar Zazai (WK), Ikram Alikhail (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Abdul Malik, Baheer Shah, Nasir Jamal, Karim Janat, Zahir Khan, Izharulhaq Naweed, Hamza Hotak, Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai, Yamin Ahmadzai and Nijat Masoud.

Reserves: Zia ur Rahman Akbar, Noor Ali Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai and Sayed Ahmad Shirzad