Hashmatullah Shahidi Appointed As Afghanistan’s New Captain

Hashmatullah Shahidi appointed as Afghanistan’s new ODI and Test captain, Asghar Afghan discharged.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Monday removed Asghar Afghan from the post of captain of the national team.

The ACB said in an official release that as per the decision, left-handed Hashmatullah Shahidi has been appointed as the new ODI and Test captain of the national team, while Rahmat Shah will serve as the vice-captain for both formats.

In addition, it was decided that all-rounder Rashid Khan would remain the vice-captain of the T20 team, while the decision to appoint a new captain would be taken soon.

The ACB’s official release further stated that the decision to remove Asghar Afghan from the captaincy was taken on the basis of an investigation conducted by the ACB’s inquiry committee.

The investigation concluded that some of Afghan’s decisions as captain of the team resulted in Afghanistan’s loss to Zimbabwe in the duo’s first Test in Abu Dhabi in March.

Zimbabwe beat Afghanistan by 10 wickets in the first test.

ACB did not reveal any specific decision taken by Afghan during the match. The Afghans were re-captained in all three formats at the end of 2019.

Zimbabwe had defeated Afghanistan by 10 wickets within two days in the first Test. In the second innings of this match, five Afghan batsmen were dismissed for ducks.

After this, Afghanistan made a spectacular comeback to level the series by winning the second Test by six wickets.

Shahidi scored a double century in the second test.

Afghan scored 164 runs in the second Test, while Shahidi scored a double century in the Test. During this time he became the first batsman to score a double century for Afghanistan in Test cricket.

The Shahidi-led team will tour Australia later this year and play their first Test in that country from November 27 in Hobart.