Afghanistan emerging spinner AM Ghazanfar has been ruled out from the Champions Trophy due to injury. Nangeyalia Kharote has been named as his replacement.
Ghazanfar fractured his L4 vertebra. He got injured during the Zimbabwe tour last December. There he took 5 wickets in his last ODI match. He was seen in his prime and must be a highly useful spinner in the upcoming tournament.
Due to the fracture he will have to remain outside from the cricket at least 4 months to get proper recovery on time. This means that he will miss the Indian Premier League (IPL) the whole season which will kick start from March 21. He was purchased by Mumbai Indians (MI) with an amount of 4.8 crores (INR).
The team is in Group B in which Australia, England and South Africa will be there. They will play their first match on February 21 against South Africa in Karachi.
The team’s cricket board ACB released a statement where they said, “AM Ghazanfar, has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to a fracture in the L4 vertebra, specifically in the left pars inter articularis. He sustained the injury during Afghanistan’s recently held tour of Zimbabwe, and will be sidelined for a minimum of four months and will remain under treatment during this period.”
🚨 INJURY UPDATE 🚨
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 12, 2025
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. He sustained the injury during Afghanistan’s recently held tour… pic.twitter.com/g0ALWe7HVe
The team will now have four spinners – Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmed, Mohammad Nabi and Nangeyalia Kharote. The starting three carries huge experience in international cricket. While the other experienced spinner of the team, Mujeeb Ur Rehman has not been selected into the list despite taking part in the whole SAt20 league recently.
Afghanistan updated squad:
Hashmatullah Shahidi ©, Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah (vc), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fareeh Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nangeyalia Kharote, Naveed Zadran, Noor Ahmad.