ICC World Cup 2019 | Mohammad Shahzad ruled out of entire tournament due to injury
Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad has been ruled out of the entire ICC World Cup due to a knee injury that he sustained during a warm-up encounter against Pakistan. The wicket-keeper played in the first two matches so far but that aggravated his injury, forcing him to leave the tournament.
Mohammad Shahzad had injured his knee in a warm-up encounter against Pakistan on May 24. As a precautionary move, he was rested in the warm-up tie against England where Rahmat Shah performed the wicket-keeping duty. The opener, who scored a duck and seven in the two games against Australia and Sri Lanka respectively, further aggravated his injury and has now been ruled out of the rest of the tournament, reported Cricbuzz.
Ikram Ali Khil, also a wicket-keeper batsman, has been named as a replacement. The southpaw had made his ODI debut against Ireland earlier this year and has only played two games since then, scoring one run in the first one followed by an unbeaten five in the next game.
Khil also featured in the one-off test against Ireland in March and has also played seven List A games. The 18-year-old was also a part of the last two editions of the Under-19 World Cup. In the previous edition, he had scored 185 runs in four matches at a healthy average of 46.25 but maintained a poor strike rate of 59.87.
Afghanistan will next face New Zealand at Taunton on June 8.