Dying to kill
It is reported in the press that in Pakistan, 12 security personnel were killed last month when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden vehicle into a check post in Pakistan’s north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Afghanistan have named their squad for the one-off Test match against Sri Lanka, beginning February 2, participating in the tour without senior spinner Rashid Khan and with four uncapped players.
Rashid will miss the one-off Test match against Sri Lanka as he continues to recover from a back surgery. Qais Ahmed, whose only Test came five years ago, has been named in the squad in place of Rashid.
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There are also four uncapped players in the squad, namely Noor Ali Zadran, Zia-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Ishaq and Naveed Zadran.
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Noor Ali, related to Mujeeb ur Rahman and Ibrahim Zadran, is the most experienced of the four with 74 international caps to his name in ODIs and T20Is. The 35-year-old is yet to make his Test debut. He, however, made his ODI debut as early as 2009, in Afghanistan’s first-ever ODI.
Afghanistan’s last Test came in June 2023, when they lost to Bangladesh by a huge margin. This will be their eighth Test match.
Afghanistan’s tour of Sri Lanka also includes three ODIs and as many T20Is, which follow the one-off Test.
Afghanistan Test squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Abdul Malik, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah (vc), Bahir Shah, Nasir Jamal, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Qais Ahmad, Zia-ur-Rehman, Zahir Khan, Yamin Ahmadzai, Nijat Masood, Mohammad Saleem and Naveed Zadran.
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