The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Monday that veteran hitter Gulbadin Naib will take the place of injured opener Hazratullah Zazai in the Afghanistan team for the Men's T20 World Cup in Australia.
Zazai, a powerful opener who owns the record for the second-highest score in men's T20I cricket history thanks to his spectacular 162 not out against Ireland in Dehradun in 2019, has been battling a stomach and kidney issue and has been ruled out for the rest of the competition.
Later in this event, Naib, a travelling reserve in Australia who was chosen to take Zazai's position, will get the opportunity to play his first T20I in nearly a year.
The ICC announced in a statement that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 had accepted Gulbadin Naib to take Hazratullah Zazai's spot in the Afghanistan team.
In the only game Afghanistan has been able to complete at the T20 World Cup, 24-year-old Zazai scored just seven runs against England before being bowled out by Liam Livingstone's superb catch.
To have any hope of making it to the semifinals, Afghanistan must win both their match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday in Brisbane and their tournament finale against Australia on Friday in Adelaide.
Mohammad Nabi's side are the only team yet to register a victory in Australia, but have been a shade unlucky given they have featured in two matches that have been abandoned without a ball being bowled because of rain.
Afghanistan squad: Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Ibrahim Zadran, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Naveen ul Haq, Qais Ahmad, Rashid Khan, Salim Safi, Gulbadin Naib, Usman Ghani. Standby Players: Afsar Zazai, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rahmat Shah.