The 24-year-old Rashid Khan widely regarded as the world’s best pitcher in white-ball cricket – featured in the Major League Twenty20 event in the US but last week pulled out of The Hundred in the UK with an unspecified injury .
Teenage left-hander Noor Ahmad also returns to the Afghanistan team to supplement Rashid in the rotation attack.
Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) head coach Asadullah Khan said the team is preparing for the big events ahead.
“This three-match ODI series against Pakistan offers us a great opportunity to prepare the team for the next two events,” Khan said in a statement released by ACB.
The first two ODIs will be played in Hambantota on August 22 and 24, the third in Colombo on August 26. The Asian Cup opens on August 30 with four matches in Pakistan and the remaining nine in Sri Lanka, while the World Cup runs from October 5 to November 19 in India.
Pakistan and Afghanistan have played four ODI matches so far, including two at the Asian Cup and one at the 2019 World Cup.
Crew:
Hashmatullah Shahidi (Captain), Rahmanullah Gurbanz, Ikram Alikhil, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Wafadar Momand.
