AM Ghazanfar, the 18-year-old right-arm fingerspinner who has made such a bright start to his ODI career, has been ruled out of the Champions Trophy 2025 because of a "fracture in the L4 vertebra". Left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote, who was originally in the list of reserves, has now replaced Ghazanfar in the main squad.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), which tweeted out the news on Wednesday morning, said that Ghazanfar sustained the injury during Afghanistan's tour of Zimbabwe late last year, and "will be sidelined for a minimum of four months and will remain under treatment during this period". That means he will also be out of the IPL that is set to be played from March 21 to May 25. Ghazanfar had bagged his maiden IPL contract recently, with Mumbai Indians.
Ghazanfar, who has 21 wickets from 11 ODIs so far, played three games for MI Emirates in the UAE's ILT20 league in January after the tour of Zimbabwe. He wasn't as effective as MI Emirates would have hoped him to be, though, bowling 7.1 overs in those three games, and picking up just one wicket with an economy rate of 9.48.
Here we come, Champions Trophy!
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 12, 2025
AfghanAtalan have arrived in Lahore for their maiden participation in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. They will feature in a week-long conditioning camp, which will also include two warm-up matches against Pakistan A (Feb 14 in Lahore) and New… pic.twitter.com/q95aO4UU0d
Twenty-year-old Kharote, who hasn't played for Afghanistan since the ODI series against Bangladesh in Sharjah in November last year - he starred in Afghanistan's win in the second game with 3 for 28 - has played seven ODIs and six T20Is since making his international debut in March 2024.
Afghanistan have a group of top-notch spinners in their line-up - Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad and Mohammad Nabi - but continue to be without Mujeeb Ur Rahman. Mujeeb, who played the full SA20 season with Paarl Royals through January and early February, hasn't played for Afghanistan since that tour of Zimbabwe and was not named in the original Champions Trophy squad. He has not played ODIs since the 2023 World Cup in India and will be out "until he has fully recovered", the ACB statement said.
Afghanistan squad for the Champions Trophy
Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah (vice-capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Fareeh Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Nangeyalia Kharote, Naveed Zadran, Noor Ahmad