Asghar Afghan reappointed captain of Afghanistan

Asghar Afghan has been reappointed captain of Afghanistan across all three formats, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced.

Afghan, 31, will replace Rashid Khan, who was named captain across formats in July, after Afghanistan lost all their matches at the World Cup under Gulbadin Naib. Rashid will now become Afghan’s deputy.

The ACB had wrested captaincy away from Afghan in May, two months out from the start of the World Cup, splitting the role among Naib (ODIs), Rashid (T20Is) and Rahmat Shah (Tests).

The decision to depose Afghan, who had taken over as captain after the 2015 World Cup, had met with criticism. High-profile players such as Mohammad Nabi and Rashid himself had publicly criticised the board’s decision. “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,” Rashid had said.

Afghan is among the most experienced players in Afghanistan side, with 181 international appearances across formats, 104 of them as captain. Afghanistan played their inaugural Test match under him, against India in Bengaluru in June 2018.