With only a few days to go for the World Cup, Afghanistan board opted for a split captaincy and has sacked Asghar from the captaincy across all the three formats of the game. Gulbadin Naib (for ODIs), Rashid Khan (for T20Is ) and Rahmat Shah (for Tests) will take over the captaincy.
ACB Selection Committee announced changes in team Afghanistan’s leadership across formats as follows.
ODIs:
– @GbNaib Captain
– @rashidkhan_19 V. CaptainT20Is:
– @rashidkhan_19 Captain
– @shafaqshinwarai V. CaptainTests:
– @RahmatShah_08 Captain
– @Hashmat_50 V.Captain pic.twitter.com/zRRvwgtKFF— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) April 5, 2019
Asghar, who replaced Mohammad Nabi as captain in 2015, showed great skills and under his leadership, Afghanistan was super successful as they became a Full Member of the ICC, and in March, they secured a historic maiden Test victory against Ireland in Dehradun.
This did not go well with the senior players like Rashid Khan, Mohammed Nabi as they criticized the captaincy calling it irresponsible and biased.
“With all the respect to the Selection Committee, I strongly disagree with the decision as it is irresponsible & bias. As we have @cricketworldcup in front of us, Captain #MAsgharAfghan should remain as our team Captain. His captaincy is highly instrumental for team success,” tweeted Rashid.
“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,” he added.
With all the respect to the Selection Committee, I strongly disagree with the decision as it is irresponsible & bias. As we have @cricketworldcup in front of us, Captain #MAsgharAfghan should remain as our team Captain. His captaincy is highly instrumental for team success .(1/2)
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) April 5, 2019
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. @ashrafghani @afgexecutive @hmohib( 2/2)
— Rashid Khan (@rashidkhan_19) April 5, 2019
Nabi, too, disagreed with the Afghanistan board and tweeted:
“Being a senior member of the side & having seen the rise of Afghanistan cricket @ashrafghani I don’t think it’s the right time to change the captain before the WC @afgexecutive. The team has gelled really well under #Asghar & personally feel he is the right man to lead us,” he wrote.
Being a senior member of the side & having seen the rise of Afghanistan cricket @ashrafghani I don’t think it’s the right time to change the captain before the WC @afgexecutive The team has gelled really well under #Asghar & personally feel he is the right man to lead us @hmohib
— Mohammad Nabi (@MohammadNabi007) April 5, 2019
ENG v WI: Holding’s inspiring speech about racism