Afghanistan's Rashid Khan fit to feature in the Bangladesh ODIs
Afghanistan's talisman Rashid Khan is back in the squad for the upcoming ODI series against Bangladesh. The 24-year-old missed out on the one-off Test that Afghanistan lost against Bangladesh. The team management wanted to give Rashid more rest to recuperate from his back issues. However, now he is back in the lineup and will be looking to seek redemption in this series. Here's more.
Afghanistan's squad for the Bangladesh ODI series
Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Shahidullah, Zia-ur-Rehman, Wafadar Momand, Mohammad Saleem, Sayed Shirzad. Izharulhaq Naveed, Shahidullah, Zia-ur-Rehman, Wafadar Momand, Mohammad Saleem and Sayed Shirzad are the new names to be called up to the ODI squad.
A look at Rashid's ODI numbers
The 24-year-old leg-spinner has scalped 163 wickets in 87 ODI matches at an average of 18.68. He is the highest wicket-taker for Afghanistan in this format. Also, he is the only Afghani bowler to scalp more than 150 wickets. Nabi with 147 scalps trails him in this regard. Rashid's tally includes four fifers. Against Bangladesh, he has snapped 15 wickets in nine matches.
Here are his stats since 2020
Rashid has been Afghanistan's standout performer across all the formats in the last few years. Since 2020, he has picked up 30 wickets in 16 ODI matches, the most by any Afghani bowler. No other bowler has even scalped 20 wickets in this period. Farooqi with 19 wickets in this period trails him in this regard. Rashid also boasts an economy of 4.25.
How did the one-off Test pan out?
Afghanistan won a Test match against Bangladesh in 2019 on the back of Rashid's 11-wicket match haul. However this time, they lost the match by 546 runs after getting bowled out for 146 and 115 in the two innings respectively. The Afghans struggled to pick wickets as Bangladesh piled up runs (382 & 425/4d) in both innings. The visitors dearly missed Rashid's presence.
