Zazai earns surprise call-up after practice match heroics
Hazratullah Zazai has earned a national call-up to the Afghanistan national cricket team just hours before their first T20I of a three-match series against Bangladesh. The first T20I is scheduled to take place on Sunday (June 3) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Dehradun, Afghanistan’s second home base.
The 20-year-old scored unbeaten 69 runs and helped his team register an 8-wicket win against Bangladesh in the practice match on Friday (June 1) and hence was recommended by the ACB selection committee for a place in the current 16-man squad.
Zazai made his only international appearance back in 2016 when Afghanistan faced UAE in T20I match. The opening batsman has clubbed three fifties and a hundred in his last four matches in the Ahmed Shah Abdali 4-day tournament.
After the end of the three-T20I series on June 7, Afghanistan will play their inaugural Test against India on June 14.
Afghanistan squad: Asghar Stanikzai (c), Mohammad Shahzad, Najeeb Tarakai, Usman Ghani, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shenwari, Shafiqullah Shafiq, Darwish Rasooli, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Shapoor Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hazratullah Zazai.
