Afsar Zazai to replace Asghar Stanikzai in the Afghanistan squad

The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 has approved Afsar Zazai as a replacement player for Asghar Stanikzai in the Afghanistan squad for the tournament, which began on 4 March.  Afghanistan captain Asghar underwent an appendicitis operation on the eve of his side’s first warm-up match against the Windies and has now been ruled out of further participation in the tournament.

Afsar is a 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman who has played 17 ODIs, aggregating 264 runs with 60 as his top score. He made his ODI debut against the UAE in November 2014, while his last ODI appearance was against the Windies in Gros Islet in June 2017. The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 is Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager – Cricket, Chairman), Chris Tetley (ICC Head of Events), Faisal Hasnain, Chris Chiketa (both host nominees), Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Lisa Sthalekar (both independent nominees).

Afghanistan have lost both their matches to Scotland and Zimbabwe to date, and play Hong Kong and Nepal on 8 and 10 March.

Earlier today the ICC had also suspended Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad for breaching the ICC Code of Conduct. Shahzad had been fined 100 per cent of his match fee and handed three demerit points in a Twenty20 International against the United Arab Emirates at the Dubai International Stadium on 12 December 2016, the addition of this one demerit point took him to the threshold of four demerit points, which, pursuant to article 7.6 of the Code, have now been converted into two suspension points**.

ICC World Cup Qualifiers – Points Table

Group A:

Group B: