Afghanistan cricket captain sacked, Rashid Khan named captain for T20s, Naib to lead in World Cup
In an extremely surprising and unprecedented move, Asghar Afghan on Friday, April 5, was removed as captain of Afghanistan from all three formats of the game. This comes as a shocking piece of news as Afghan had a decent record under his stint as captain, especially in the T20 format.
He had just led Afghanistan to their maiden Test title against Ireland in their home ground. The team had won 31 matches in ODIs under his captaincy and in T20s, he had an excellent record as he led his team to 37 wins out of the 46 T20s that they played.
The moves comes as a very surprising one as Afghan definitely hasn't been removed because of his captaincy skills. He had been leading Afghanistan to continuous victories, and even in the Asia Cup this year, he led them to the Super Four stages, where they tied a game against the champions, India and lost to Bangladesh and Pakistan in extremely close contests.
Meanwhile, replacements for Ashton have been announced. Rashid Khan, the sensational spinner will lead the team in the T20s. He has captained this side before and will be looking to make a good record and win matches as a captain. The test side will be led by Rahmat Shah. He too starred in Afghanistan's first test win, and will be looking to more results like these under his stint as captain.
The most important selection for the Afghan team as the moment was their captain for the ODI side. With the World Cup underway in two months, Gulbadin Naib was handed the ODI captaincy. Rashid Khan is also set to be his deputy and these two will be taking their team forward in the World Cup. They have both led their teams in first class cricket and will be willing to prove their skills as captains in the upcoming World Cup.
Afghanistan will play some ODIs before the World Cup warm up matches start. It will be vital for Naib to prove his stint as captain in the matches against Ireland and Scotland and with Rashid Khan by his side, he will be looking to win a few matches to give him and his team some confidence.