Nijat Masood and Naveen-ul-Haq. (Photo Source: Twitter)
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) recently came forward to announce the inclusion of 24-year-old Nijat Masood in their T20I squad for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh. It is worth noting that both sides face each other in two T20Is, with the first one scheduled to be played on Friday, July 14.
Masood’s inclusion in the squad comes after star pacer Naveen-ul-Haq sustained a knee injury and will be missing the T20I series due to it. Having made history by clinching the ODI series, Afghanistan will be keen on putting in similar performances in the T20I series as well.
With Masood’s selection, Asadullah Khan, the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s chief selector, came forward to reflect on the duration of Naveen’s injury and opined that Masood’ selection in the squad could bolster their chances as the 24-year-old possesses similar qualities to Naveen’s and has been in good form of late.
“He (Naveen) is expected to be out for two months, we have replaced Naveen with Nijat as we opted for a pace bowler for a pace bowler and we feel he is carrying a good form,” Asadullah Khan told Cricbuzz.
Afghanistan write history as they clinch ODI series against Bangladesh
Afghanistan kicked off their multi-format series against Bangladesh with a huge loss where they were completely dominated by the hosts. As the ODI series got underway, many opined that Afghanistan would face yet another crushing defeat and lose the white-ball series as well.
However, the visitors had different plans in mind. As rain played spoilsport throughout several stages of the first ODI, the visitors managed to clinch a brilliant win by 17 runs (DLS method) and gain the advantage going into the second ODI.
As Bangladesh looked to improve on their performance in the second game, Afghanistan outclassed them in every way, as a brilliant opening partnership by the Afghan batters helped them notch up 331 runs on the board in the first innings and then bundle Bangladesh out for 189 runs and win the series with a game to spare.