Rashid Khan and Nabi hit back at Asghar axing
Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, Afghanistan cricket’s two biggest voices, have hit back strongly at the recent revamp that saw Asghar Afghan being removed as captain of all three formats.
The board replaced Afghan with Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan and Rahmat Shah as captains for the ODIs, T20Is and Tests respectively.
Rashid, Shafiqullah Shafiq and Hashmatullah Shahidi were also chalked in as vice captains for ODIs, T20Is and Test cricket respectively.
Asghar has been captain of Afghanistan since April 2015, having taken over the leadership role from all-rounder Mohammad Nabi. Under his stint, Afghanistan posted 31 wins in ODIs and 37 in T20Is. He also led his country to their maiden Test win against Ireland this year. Asghar has been a regular member of the Afghanistan side since 2009, and has notched up 2013 and 1056 runs in ODIs and T20Is.
Soon after the announcement was made public, both Rashid and Nabi took to twitter to voice their objection at the move.
‘With just months to go for such a mega event like World Cup, changing the captain will cause uncertainty and also team morale will be affected,’ said Rashid, who was made the captain of T20Is in the revamp, reports the cricbuzz.com.
‘With all the respect to the Selection Committee, I strongly disagree with the decision as it is irresponsible & bias(ed). As we have (the world cup) in front of us, Captain #MAsgharAfghan should remain as our team Captain. His captaincy is highly instrumental for team success,’ added Rashid in another tweet.
Mohammad Nabi also made a similar statement, saying the change in captaincy has come at the wrong time.
‘Being a senior member of the side & having seen the rise of Afghanistan cricket, I don’t think it’s the right time to change the captain before the WC. The team has gelled really well under Ashgar & (I) personally feel he is the right man to lead us,’ said Nabi.
Both players are currently with their IPL team Sunrisers Hyderabad.