Hazratullah Zazai, who was injured, has been replaced in Afghanistan’s Twenty20 World Cup roster by batsman Gulbadin Naib, the tournament’s organisers said on Monday. Naib was a travelling reserve for the squad and may play in their Super 12 encounter against Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Brisbane.
According to the International Cricket Council, Zazai could not play because of a pulled abdominal muscle. He scored seven runs in Afghanistan’s opening defeat against England. After their following two games were called off due to rain, they finished last in Group 1, headed by New Zealand.
Afghanistan has to win both of its remaining games—on Tuesday in Brisbane against Sri Lanka and on Friday in Adelaide against Australia—to have any chance of moving on to the semifinals.
Mohammad Nabi’s squad is the only one without a victory in Australia, although they have had some bad luck because they took part in two games that were abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled.
Zazai scored just seven runs against England in the lone match Afghanistan was permitted to play in the T20 World Cup. Liam Livingstone’s superb catch saw the left-hander dismissed.
Mohammad Nabi is the captain of the Afghanistan team, which also includes Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb your Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Gulbadin Naib Afsar Zazai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, and Rahmat Shah are on standby.
