Ghani pauses Afghanistan profession after alleging corruption in administration, choice
Following his exclusion from the Afghanistan nationwide aspect, opening batter Usman Ghani has chosen to take a break from worldwide cricket. Ghani alleged that the management within the Afghanistan set-up is corrupt, and that he would “eagerly wait for the right” administration and choice committee earlier than making a comeback.
Ghani final represented Afghanistan in March towards Pakistan, scoring 7 and 15, and within the final two years performed 11 T20I innings at a median of 23.50 and a strike charge of 99.15. His worldwide debut was in 2014 and he final performed an ODI in 2022 earlier than dropping his place within the 50-over format. With his latest exclusion from T20Is in Bangladesh, he’s successfully dominated out of white-ball cricket. Ghani has by no means fairly been thought of for red-ball cricket.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to take a break from Afghanistan Cricket,” Ghani wrote on Twitter. “The corrupt leadership in the cricket board has compelled me to step back. I will continue my hard work and eagerly await the right management and selection committee to be put in place. Once that happens, I will proudly return to play for Afghanistan. Until then, I am backing myself from representing my beloved nation.”
Ghani additionally said that he made a number of makes an attempt to satisfy the chairman of Afghanistan Cricket Board, Mirwais Ashraf, however “he remained unavailable.” Ghani additionally criticised the brand new chief selector Asadullah Khan for not providing a “satisfactory response” on dropping him from all codecs.
In the Afghanistan arrange, Ghani has been changed by veteran wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Shahzad, who returned after a spot of 19 months after enhancing his health and scoring runs persistently within the home circuit. He was among the many main run-getters, scoring 264 at a median of 44 within the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup and 440 runs at 88 within the regional Miwais Nika three-day event.
For the opening slot, the selectors have retained 21-year-old Sediqullah Atal. He scored three half-centuries, together with 94 for Defenders within the Green One Day Cup, averaging 49.75 in 4 video games. Atal is taken into account a long-term prospect for the nationwide aspect.
“Shahzad’s selection is based on domestic performance and we want to see him up there,” chief selector Asadullah instructed ESPNcricinfo. “We are basically looking at the 2024 T20 World Cup and trying out players. With Shahzad, we feel he can contribute with this opportunity for him to prove how well he can do. He is not part of our ODI plans but the focus is to go with him to the T20 World Cup. Also, it was the captain and coach’s demand to see Shahzad as an option and how it goes. We don’t have anyone other than [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz in the top order so we want to build a backup.”
“We have plenty of time for the T20 World Cup, so it’s not an end for anyone. We have plenty of cricket coming ahead and will keep including youngsters. We have invested a lot in youngsters and they are part of the pool like Sediq Atal is there as well. So we also want to make sure we have more options. Our plan is to build a bigger pool and we have players for every role to gain benefit in different conditions against different opponents. We must have different options on the bench to counter the strength of opponents.”
On Ghani’s allegations, although, the ACB provided no remark. Afghanistan play three ODIs and two T20Is in Bangladesh beginning Wednesday.