Shahzad out of CWC19, Imran Ali Khil called up

Sports Desk: Mohammad Shahzad, the Afghanistan opener, has been ruled out of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019, with wicket-keeper batsman Ikram Ali Khil being called up as a replacement.

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.

Shahzad had retired hurt after suffering a knee injury in Afghanistan's warm-up fixture against Pakistan. While the wicket-keeper batsman featured in their opening games against Australia and Sri Lanka, the aggravated injury has ruled him out of participation in the rest of the competition.

Since the 2015 World Cup, Shahzad has been Afghanistan's second highest run-scorer in one-day internationals with 1843 runs in 55 innings. Ali Khil, his replacement, was a part of Afghanistan's squad in the ICC Men's U-19 Cricket World Cup 2018 and scored 185 runs in four innings. Having also featured in the U-19 squad in the 2016 edition, Khil made his ODI and test debut against Ireland last year and was a part of Afghanistan's first ever test win.

Agencies


risingbd/Dhaka/Jun 7, 2019/Nasim