Mujeeb’s withdrawal led to the ICC giving permission for Mujeeb to be replaced with Hazratullah Zazai who is an opener following Afghanistan’s win over Papua New Guinea on Friday.
The IPL, 2024 seasons had previously left him missing a number of games after he got a recurring finger injury.
ESPN Cricinfo has said that despite featuring in Afghanistan’s opening game against Uganda, Mujeeb missed out on further participation because of a sprained index finger on his bowling hand.
This decision was made by the event’s technical committee, providing valuable reinforcements to the Afghan batting lineup. Although Zazai does not directly replace Rahman, his addition will significantly strengthen the batting line-up of Afghanistan.
Zazai played both the 2021 and 2022 editions of this tournament but didn’t feature in any T20I since February this year. He is notable for being second highest run scorer in men’s T20I cricket from Afghanistan.
Even if Mujeeb’s absence is felt deeply, there was already Noor Ahmed in their main squad as a back-up option. Although he went wicketless against New Zealand, Noor has played two matches against NZ and PNG where he took one wicket at cost of only14 runs from four overs against PNG team.
Afghanistan faces West Indies in their last group match to be played on Monday at Saint Lucia having beaten Papua New Guinea so as to reach Super Eight stage. With Zazai included into the team they now expect more power in batting department.
There may be setbacks experienced due to Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s absence from Afghani camp, but they can still boast of strong spin bowlers’ bench strength plus Hazratullah Zazai inclusion as another experienced batsman who supplements other available players making it possible for them to remain competitive throughout all coming fixtures of ICC T20 World Cup.
