Afghanistan removes longstanding skipper Asghar Afghan from captaincy duties across all the formats

Asghar was leading the country since being appointed for the job in 2015.

Asghar Afghan | Getty

Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Friday (April 5) sacked Asghar Afghan from leadership duties of its national side across all formats of the game. 31-year-old Afghan was appointed for the role in 2015. He had a fruitful stint captaining Afghanistan at the highest level for more than four years. 

Under Asghar, Afghanistan won 31 ODIs, registered 37 T20Is victories and qualified for this summer's World Cup. He also led his country to its first ever Test win versus Ireland in Dehradun just recently. Asghar has so far played 99 ODIs, 59 T20Is and 2 Tests for Afghanistan since making his debut in 2009. 

Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan and Rahmat Shah will take over the reins for Afghanistan in ODIs, T20Is and Test cricket respectively. ACB has also named Rashid, Shafiqullah Shafiq and Hashmatullah Shahidi as vice-captains - for the three formats separately. 

Veteran all-rounder Naib will now lead his country in the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup, to be played in the United Kingdom from May 30 onwards. Among the three captains announced by Afghanistan, only Rashid has previous experience of leading the national side. He has been skipper in four ODI matches so far. 

Afghanistan's next Test and T20I isn't finalised yet, but they'll play two ODIs each against Scotland and Ireland as part of their preparation for the World Cup in England and Wales, where they kickstart the campaign versus Australia on June 1st. 

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 05 Apr, 2019

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