Afghanistan names squad for first Test against New Zealand

The New Zealand cricket team arrived in Delhi on Thursday, ahead of a one-off Test against Afghanistan and a three-match Test series against India.

New Zealand Test captain Tim Southee, star batsman Kane Williamson, vice-captain Tom Latham and other members of the team were spotted at Delhi airport on Thursday morning.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed in a post on X on Thursday that the New Zealand national team had arrived in India for the one-off test match against the Afghanistan national team.

ACB said the individual test will begin at 9am Kabul time on Monday.

In August, the ACB named a provisional 20-man squad for the test.

Selection committee officials said the final squad would be announced at the end of the preparatory camp that began in India earlier this month.

Ahmad Shah Sulimankhel, the chief selector, said last month: “Twenty players have been selected for the training camp and after assessing their performance and fitness, a 15-man squad will be selected for the only Test match against New Zealand.”

The provisional squad consists of the following players:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Abdul Malik, Rahmat Shah, Baheer Shah Mahboob, Ikram Alikhel (week), Shahidullah Kamal, Gulbadin Naib, Afsar Zazai (week), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ziaurrahman Akbar, Shamsurrahman, Qais Ahmad , Zahir Khan, Nijat Masoud, Farid Ahmad Malik, Naveed Zadran, Khalil Ahmad and Yama Arab.

ACB chairman Mirwais Ashraf said at the time: “I am happy to see some young players in the team who have performed well in domestic cricket and have been given the opportunity to be part of the Test squad for this Test match.”

He added that ACB is “delighted to launch its first bilateral event with New Zealand, a team with high quality in Test cricket, and looks forward to a competition between the Black Caps and Afghan Atalan.”