In a major development, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has decided to appoint Asghar Afghan as the captain across formats, looking beyond Rashid Khan.
After a disappointing outing against the West Indies last month — where it lost the ODI series and the one-off Test, under Rashid's captaincy — Afghanistan cricket's top management has decided to hand over the task to Ashgar, who has been one of the most successful captains of the country.
"It is a decision of the top management to hand over the responsibility to Ashar, who is the senior-most member of the side. His experience will count," one of the ACB officials told Sportstar .
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The official also confirmed that Rashid will now be the vice-captain of the team. "With the T20 World Cup coming up, the management thought Asghar will be able to hold the team together and together with Rashid, he can deliver the goods," the official said, making it clear that the ACB top management had informed the decision to Rashid earlier.
"They had discussions with him and only after that, the decision was taken," the official claimed.
Rashid, one of the top spinners of the world, was named the captain across formats in July this year -- after the side's disastrous outing in the World Cup.After losing to West Indies in the line Test last month, Rashid had told this publication that the country's domestic cricketing structure needs to be improved as it was not as per the 'Test standards'.
On Wednesday, Rashid, however, was not available for a comment.
Asghar, who took over as the captain in 2017, has been one of the key players of the team and he was removed as the captain earlier this year, just a few weeks before the World Cup, which created furore in Afghanistan team. Back then, Afghanistan opted for split captaincy -- a policy that was overturned after World Cup disappointment.
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