Mohali (Punjab): Star Afghan spinner Rashid Khan has been ruled out of the three-match T20I series against India starting from January 11. Rashid underwent back surgery after the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 that was played last year in India and is undergoing his rehab.
Afghanistan skipper Ibrahim Zadran confirmed the news of the spinners' absence in the pre-match press conference saying that Rashid is not totally fit.
"He is not totally fit. He is doing his rehab. We will miss him in the series. Without Rashid (Khan) there are a few players we trust," Zadran told reporters here.
"We have many players like Mujeeb (ur Rahman) who have played a lot of cricket. We have trust in them. We will struggle without Rashid but one should be ready for any kind of situation," he added.
Afghanistan performed brilliantly in the ICC ODI World Cup played last year and were in the race to qualify for the semi-final at one point of time. They registered victories against defending champions England and Pakistan in the league stage. Zadran admitted that expectations of the people in the country are rising.
"I only went home for one day but what I heard from teammates, they said all the people were happy. Nowadays, all around the country people expect lots of things from us. It is the only thing in the country that is giving happiness to people of Afghanistan. Playing against India on their home soil is difficult but we are here to win, show our skills. We have lots of good players in T20 and we are good in this format, I am sure we will perform well," he added.
Zadran is known to play an anchor role in the batting unit. In the T20Is, he has a strike rate of 103.18 from 27 matches. Reflecting on his gameplay, the Afghan captain stated that he would look to improve his strike rate in the match.
"I play the anchor role in the team in ODIs. In T20s, the aim is to improve my strike rate but it also depends on the situation. When team needs you, you should be able to play fancy shots. I am working on it. We are going to the T20 World Cup. if I increase that strike rate, it will be good for the team," he concluded.
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