KABUL: Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has named left-arm spinner Nangyal Kharote as the replacement for the injured spinner AM Ghazanfar in their squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
The 18-year-old spinner, who made a bright start to his ODI career, has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy 2025 because of a “fracture in the L4 vertebra”.
The country’s cricket board took to their official X (formerly Twitter) account to announce the unfortunate news.
“Afghanistan’s young spin-bowling sensation, AM Ghazanfar, has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to a fracture in the L4 vertebra, specifically in the left pars interarticularis,” ACB posted.
“He sustained the injury during Afghanistan’s recently held tour Zimbabwe and will be sidelined for a minimum of four months and will remain under treatment during this period.
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“Nangyal Kharoti, who was part of the reserves pool, has been promoted to the main squad for the Champions Trophy. Additionally, Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s continues to miss the ODI action, until he has fully recovered.”
It’s worth noting that the ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy will kick off on 19 February with host and defending champions Pakistan taking on New Zealand in the curtain-raiser in Karachi’s National Bank Stadium.
Afghanistan will kick off their campaign with a clash against South Africa at Karachi’s newly renovated National Bank Stadium on February 21, before they face England and Australia at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.
For the unversed, Afghanistan’s performance in white-ball cricket has been strong recently — finishing sixth in the ICC ODI World Cup in 2023 and reaching the semi-final in last year’s T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan beat England and Pakistan in the ODI World Cup and Australia and New Zealand in the T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan squad for Champions Trophy 2025
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharote, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.
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