Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) sacking Asghar Afghan from captaincy duties of its national side across all formats, hasn't gone down well with key members of the team like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, who have criticised and questioned the timing of the move so close to the ICC Cricket World Cup that will be played in England and Wales from May 30 onwards. 

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. 

"With all the respect to the Selection Committee, I strongly disagree with the decision as it is irresponsible & bias," posted Rashid over Twitter on Friday (April 5). "As we have the World Cup in front of us, Captain #MAsgharAfghan should remain as our team Captain."

"His captaincy is highly instrumental for team success...With just months to go for such a mega event like the World Cup, changing the captain will cause uncertainty and also team morale will be affected."

Asghar had a fruitful stint captaining his nation at the highest level for more than four years, since being appointed at the job in 2015. Afghanistan won 31 ODIs, registered 37 T20Is victories and qualified for this summer's World Cup under him, besides just recently scripting its maiden Test win against Ireland in Dehradun. 

"Being a senior member of the side & having seen the rise of Afghanistan cricket @ashrafghani I don’t think it’s the right time to change the captain before the WC @afgexecutive," wrote Nabi as well through his official Twitter handle.