Mohammad Shahzad, Afghanistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman, has been ruled out of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 owing to a knee injury, the team confirmed on Thursday (June 6). Another keeper-batsman in Ikram Ali Khil has been called up as a replacement by the team.
Shahzad, an explosive opener, had initially picked the knock during Afghanistan’s warm-up game against Pakistan last month, which forced him to retire from the game. And although he was a part of his team’s opening two World Cup games, he has been forced to withdraw as the injury has aggravated.
Since the knock, the 32-year-old hasn’t enjoyed a fruitful outing, to say the least. He was dismissed on a duck in Afghanistan’s World Cup opener against Australia and could only manage seven runs against Sri Lanka in the following game.
"The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 has approved Khil as a replacement player for Shahzad in the Afghanistan squad for the remainder of the tournament," read an official statement from ICC.
His replacement, Khil, made his ODI debut in March this year against Ireland and has played a mere two ODIs. And his return isn’t cheering as well. In those two ODIs, he has managed just six odd runs.
Meanwhile, Khil was a part of Afghanistan’s U-19 World Cup squad last year and scored 185 runs in four matches at 46.25.
Having lost both of their World Cup fixtures, Afghanistan’s next job lies against New Zealand – who have won both of their games - in Taunton on June 8.
Feature image courtesy: AFP / Geoff Caddick
