Afghanistan’s national cricket team has secured a spot in the upcoming ODI World Cup 2023 to be held in India. As they continue their preparations for the Asia Cup and World Cup, Afghanistan is scheduled to play a three-match ODI series and a two-match T20I series against Bangladesh in Chattogram and Sylhet.
However, ahead of this crucial tour, Afghanistan’s opening batter, Usman Ghani, has made the decision to take a break from national cricket. Although Ghani is not part of the squad for the series against Bangladesh, he took to social media to announce his break, citing concerns about corruption within the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
Ghani expressed his commitment to continue working hard and assured his fans that he would return to play for Afghanistan once there is a management and selection committee in place that meets his expectations. He wrote, “Once that happens, I will proudly return to play for Afghanistan. Until then, I am stepping back from representing my beloved nation.”
In his tweets, Ghani also revealed that despite his attempts to meet the chairman of the Board, he remained unavailable. He expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of a satisfactory response regarding his exclusion from the team for the crucial series. He added, “Moreover, the chief selector had no satisfactory response for my exclusion from all formats.”
Usman Ghani’s last appearance for Afghanistan was in a T20I match against Pakistan in March 2023. He has represented the country in 17 ODIs and 35 T20Is but is yet to play a Test match.