BAN vs AFG: Rashid Khan rested as Afghanistan Cricket Board announces squad for solitary Test

The selection committee of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced a 15-member squad which will travel to Bangladesh for the one-off Test, slated to kickstart on Wednesday, June 14. Notably, star spinner Rashid Khan has been rested for the contest.

For the unversed, Rashid sustained a lower-back injury following the conclusion of the IPL 2023 and was ruled out of the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka. He featured in the third ODI played on June 7 in Hambantota but wasn't able to make substantial contributions to take his team over the line as the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side lost the series 2-1.

Raees Ahmadzai, Afghanistan assistant coach, spoke to Cricbuzz and confirmed that Rashid has just been rested as a part of his workload management and taking his recent back injury into consideration.

"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 risk with him taking his back injury into consideration."

Hashmatullah Shahidi will captain the national team whereas Rahmat Shah has been named as his deputy. Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai, Nijat Masoud and leggie Izharulhaq Naweed have been called up for the red-ball clash against the Bangla Tigers. Zia ur Rahman Akbar, Noor Ali Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai and Sayed Ahmad Shirzad have been named in the reserve list for the tour of Bangladesh.

Litton Das to lead Bangladesh

Speaking about the Bangladesh red-ball contingent, Litton Das will lead the team in the only Test. The Bangladesh Cricket Board announced the decision of Litton leading the side as regular skipper Shakib Al Hasan is nursing a finger injury. In addition to that, the selection committee has called up uncapped batter Shahadat Hossain and pacer Musfik Hasan.

Afghanistan travel to Bangladesh on the back of a series loss (2-1) against Sri Lanka in the ODIs. Bangladesh and Afghanistan have met once in the longest format as per their head-to-head records, and the latter stamped its authority in the only meeting. 

In addition to this, following the conclusion of the Test match, the two sides will turn their attention to the three-match ODI series followed by two T20 matches. The teams will look to assemble a core squad just in time for the forthcoming 2023 ODI World Cup, scheduled to be played in India in October-November.