NEWS
Follow UsDespite pulling out of The Hundred due to injury, Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan is set to be available for the upcoming One-Day International (ODI) series against Pakistan, scheduled to be played in Sri Lanka from August 23 onwards, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have confirmed.
Afghanistan will play three ODIs to prepare for the Asia Cup, which will get underway from August 30. Rashid was rested for the one-off Test against Bangladesh but returned for the white-ball series before heading off to the US to take part in the inaugural Major League Cricket (MLC), where he turned up for MI New York, finishing with eight wickets in the tournament at an economy rate of under seven
But due to a back injury, he decided to skip The Hundred just a day before the start of the tournament. That raised doubts over his availability for the ODIs against Pakistan, but ACB chief selector Asadullah Khan has confirmed that their star player will be available for the contest.
"He [Rashid] skipped the Hundred for these games [against Pakistan] as he wanted some rest to be fully fit for the Pakistan game. Consistently he is playing cricket, so he took a rest from Hundred for the Pakistan series," Asadullah told Cricbuzz.
"We had a preparation camp in Kabul, and the next camp will be in Hambantota from August 10, and he will join the camp in Hambantota," he said.
The chief selector is hopeful of a good showing from the team against Pakistan which will boost their confidence going into the Asia Cup.
"We have lots of hopes from the fast bowling attack along with the spinners. And as a batting unit, we are hopeful that those players who are out of form will regain form in the Asia Cup and in the Pakistan series as well. The good thing is everybody is fully fit and very happy, and they are working very hard to perform well," he said.
"That ODI series win against Bangladesh gives us lots of confidence as a batting and bowling unit. We won in Bangladesh, which means that our preparation was very good, and some of the mistakes that we made in Bangladesh, I am sure our coach Jonathon and his staff are working very hard on that."
