Asghar Afghan sacked; Hashmatullah Shahidi named Afghanistan's Test, ODI skipper

The Afghanistan Cricket Board members on 31st May 2021 approved the proposition to go ahead with split-captaincy for the national men’s team, removing Asghar Afghan as the team’s captain.

As per the board members’ unanimous decision, left-handed batter Hashmatullah Shahidi is set to lead the team in the One Day Internationals and Tests, with Rahmat Shah being appointed his deputy in both formats. Further, the vice-captaincy in the T20Is has been handed to all-rounder Rashid Khan, while the decision regarding the captain of the shortest format is yet to be made.

Afghan’s removal as the national team’s captain comes after the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s investigation committee’s report concluded that some of his decision led to the team’s loss against Zimbabwe earlier this year in the UAE.

“The decision to remove Asghar Afghan from captaincy was taken based on an investigation conducted by ACB’s Investigative committee which concluded that some of Afghan’s decisions as the captain of the team resulted in Afghanistan’s loss to Zimbabwe in the first Test of the series between both sides in Abu Dhabi in March,” ACB said in a release.

Zimbabwe went on to win the game by 10 wickets inside two days to hand Afghanistan an embarrassing defeat. However, the latter came back strongly in the second Test to level the series 1-1.

Afghanistan set to play Australia in a one-off Test 

Shahidi’s first assignment as the team’s captain is likely to be against Pakistan, against whom Afghanistan will be playing three ODIs and as many T20Is in UAE, if everything goes as per plans. Notably, the two nations have never played each other in a bilateral series, and Afghanistan is keen to host their Asian counterpart this year, as was discussed during the ICC and Asian Cricket Council’s meeting.

Reportedly, Pakistan’s Prime Minister and former cricketer, Imran Khan, has also requested the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to organize a series between the two nations. Meanwhile, Afghanistan is also set to face Australia in a one-off Test in November this year, which as per ICC’s original Future Tours Programme (FTP) was scheduled to be played last year, but was eventually postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.