Rashid Khan returns as Afghanistan name team for Zimbabwe Tests

For the two-match test series against Zimbabwe, which is set to take place in Bulawayo from December 26, 2024, to January 6, 2025, Rashid Khan has rejoined the Afghanistan team. Rashid faced the same opponents in Abu Dhabi in March 2021. For the first time, Sediqullah Atal, a left-arm top-order batsman with ODI and T20I caps under his belt, has been included in the Test team.

The youthful medium-fast bowling all-rounder Ismat Alam was called up to the Test team for the first time following a strong showing in the Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class Competitions, when he claimed 12 wickets and scored 723 runs. In a similar vein, Zahir Shehzad, a slow left-arm spinner, has also been added to the squad following some strong showings in the domestic FC championships. The third player called up for the first time is Bashir Ahmad Afghan, a young left-arm fast bowler who took three hundred wickets at a remarkable average of 17.36.

The team has seven uncapped players in total, including top-order batsman Riaz Hassan, left-arm fast bowler Fareed Ahmad Malik, and fast-bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai. Although they have not yet made their Test debuts, they were recently included in the squad for the (washed out) test match against New Zealand.

The return of Rashid Khan to the test team is encouraging for our red ball game moving forward, according to ACB interim chief selector Ahmad Shah Sulimankhil. The other members of the team, which included 19 players and all the support personnel to work with the players and guarantee complete preparation for the series, recently completed excellent preparations in Nangarhar province. After carefully observing the action, we selected the team, which contains a number of fresh talent like Ismat Alam, Bashir Ahmad, and Zahir Shehzad, who all excelled at the most recent Ahmad Shah Abdali FC Tournament.

It will be Afghanistan’s third Test match versus Zimbabwe and their eleventh overall. Afghanistan has already defeated Zimbabwe (2021), Bangladesh (2019), and Ireland (2019) in three test matches apiece.

Afghanistan squad Zimbabwe Tests

Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Ikram Alikhail (WK), Afsar Zazai (WK), Riaz Hassan, Sediqullah Atal, Abdul Malik, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ismat Alam, Azmatullah Omarzai, Zahir Khan, Zia Ur Rehman Akbar, Zahir Shehzad, Rashid Khan, Yamin Ahmadzai, Bashir Ahmad Afghan, Naveed Zadran, and Fareed Ahmad Malik

Reserves: Nasir Jamal, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi, Ibrahim Abdulrahimzai

AFG vs ZIM 2024-25 Test series schedule