India vs Afghanistan Test: Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman Highlights Of Spin-Heavy Afghan Squad For One-Off Test

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (AFG) on Tuesday announced the 15-strong squad for their historic maiden Test against India starting in Bengaluru on June 14. The squad features world's premier T20 bowler Rashid Khan and young Mujeeb ur Rahman. Apart from them, the team features two more spinners -- chinaman Zahir Khan and Amir Hamza Hotak. The squad will be led by Ashgar Stanikzai. While Rashid and Mujeeb made the world take notice of their talent in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018, the spin duo will face a different challenge, in form of a Test.

While Rashid Khan has played four first-class games, Mujeeb is yet to play a longer format encounter.

The batting will primarily depend on skipper Stanikzai, Mohammed Shahzad and batting all-rounder Mohammed Nabi. In all, the squad has a collective experience of 205 first-class games.

Only four players have an experience of 20 plus first-class matches.

Nabi, who has the experience of playing for SunRisers Hyderabad in the past two IPL seasons, is the most capped first-class player with 32 games. He is followed by skipper Stanikzai with 23 games, pacer Wafadar (22 games) and Shahzad 20 games.

Afghanistan will miss their experienced seamer Dawlat Zadran, who is out with an injury. The pace department will be handled by Yamin Ahmadzai Wafadar and Sayed Ahmed Shirzad.

Experienced left-arm seamer Shapoor Zadran has been picked for the T20s against Bangladesh in Dehradun but he has not been picked in the longer version as he last played a four-day game in 2013.

Squad: Ashgar Stanikzai, Mohammed Shahzad, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Ihsanullah Janat, Nasir Jamal, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Afsar Zazai, Mohammed Nabi, Rashid Khan, Zahir Khan, Amir Hamza Hotak, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Yamin Ahmadzai Wafadar, Mujeeb ur Rahman

(With PTI inputs)