Leg-spinner Rashid Khan has been appointed as the skipper of Afghanistan across all three formats in the latest captaincy change for the outfit.
The 20-year-old had previously been appointed as skipper of the T20I outfit before the 2019 ICC World Cup got underway with Gulbadin Naib and Rahmat Shah taking over the reins of the ODI and Test sides respectively.
Following the team’s dismal showing in the World Cup where they lost all nine of their matches, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have now decided to appoint Rashid as skipper across the three formats.
Meanwhile, former Afghanistan skipper Asghar Afghan has been announced as Rashid’s deputy in the three formats. Afghan had been the designated captain of all three sides previously before he was surprisingly removed from the position just weeks before the start of the World Cup.
ACB Chairman @AzizullahFazli announced today that All-rounder @rashidkhan_19 has been appointed as team Afghanistan’s new captain across all three formats replacing @GbNaib while Asghar Afghan will serve as the Vice-captain.
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) July 12, 2019
Read more: https://t.co/UF7MZgdcnj pic.twitter.com/w3SYvEAHiW
This will not be the first time that Rashid will captain the Afghanistan team with the spinner having led the side during the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe last year due to an injury to Asghar Afghan.
Under Rashid’s captaincy, Afghanistan lost three of their four matches and were on the brink of missing out on qualification before Asghar Afghan returned and scripted a turnaround in the team’s fortunes.
The latest move from the ACB means that Rahmat Shah’s Test captaincy tenure has ended without a single game being played. Afghanistan are due to play their third ever Test match in November this year when they play host to the West Indies at their adopted home in India.
