AM Ghazanfar ruled out of Champions Trophy and IPL

AM Ghazanfar burst onto the scene in ODI cricket © Afghanistan Cricket Board
Afghanistan were dealt a huge blow ahead of the Champions Trophy as their mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar has been ruled out from the tournament due to injury.

The right-arm offspinner, who replaced fellow finger-spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the squad for the marquee tournament, had sustained a fracture in his L4 vertebra.

Mujeeb, who played the full SA20 season with Paarl Royals through January and early February, hasn't played for Afghanistan since the tour of Zimbabwe, and was not named in the original Champions Trophy squad either. He has been deemed to not have fully recovered from his previous injuries as well.

"AM Ghazanfar, has been ruled out of the ICC Champions Trophy due to a fracture in the L4 vertebra, specifically in the left pars interarticularis." ACB said in statement on Wednesday.

"He (Ghazanfar) sustained the injury during Afghanistan's recently held tour Zimbabwe, and will be sidelined for a minimum of four months and will remain under treatment during this period," it added.

Left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote, who was originally in the list of reserves, has now replaced Ghazanfar in the main squad.

The injury is a huge blow for the 18-year-old spinner, who bagged his maiden IPL contract with Mumbai Indians for INR 4.8 crores, will miss the tournament scheduled to be played from March 21 to May 25.

Afghanistan will have a four spinners in their squad that includes Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi and Kharote, who hasn't played for Afghanistan since the ODI series against Bangladesh in Sharjah in November last year.

Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote , Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik