Afghanistan's Rashid Khan ruled out of the T20I series vs India

Afghanistan's star leg-spinner Rashid Khan has been ruled out of the upcoming three-match T20I series against India due to his long-troubling lower-back injury, skipper Ibrahim Zadran confirmed in the pre-series press conference in Mohali on Wednesday, January 10.

Rashid went under the knife in November 2023. He was subsequently ruled out of an international series against the UAE and the Big Bash League (BBL) in Australia. Even Mumbai Indians Cape, his team in the SAT20, a tournament that will run from January 10 to February 11, are prepared to miss him for the entire season and have already named Kieron Pollard as their captain.

“He is not totally fit, but is traveling with the team. We hope that he gets fit as soon as we expect him to. He’s doing his rehab with the doctor, and we will miss him in the series,” Zadran said, as quoted by Sportstar.

“Without Rashid, there are a few players that we have trust in. I can say, they will play good cricket. Others have also played a lot of cricket and I am sure they will perform well. Without Rashid, we will struggle because his experience is crucial to all of us, but this is cricket and you need to be ready for any kind of situation,” he added.

Reports from Mohali indicate that although Rashid bowled a few times in Afghanistan's net sessions on Tuesday, he didn't bat nor did any high-intensity training.

"Afghanistan will have a good series against India" - Ibrahim Zadran

Despite Rashid's absence, Zadran sounded optimistic for the series against India, the top-ranked T20I side in the world.

“Playing against India on their home soil is a difficult task, but we came here to play well against them and show our skills. We have lots of good T20 players, all our boys are playing good cricket, so I am sure they will play well. We will have a good series against India,” the Afghanistan skipper said.

The first match will begin at 7:00 pm IST on Thursday.