Rashid Khan to miss start of SL series

COLOMBO: A back injury has ruled Afghanistan´s star leg-spinner Rashid Khan out of the start of the three-match series against Sri Lanka, which starts on Friday. The 24-year-old is the highest wicket taker for Afghanistan, with 163 scalps to his name in one-day international cricket. "Obviously it´s a huge loss for us," Afghan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi told journalists on Thursday.

"He´s been a key performer over the years and we will miss him. But that also provides someone else an opportunity, and it´s a good challenge against a strong team like Sri Lanka." Afghanistan have their bowling bases covered with off-spinners Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi, and left-arm wrist spinner Noor Ahmad.

"The focus will be on winning the series," Hashmatullah said. "With the World Cup ahead and played in similar conditions, we´ll use it as preparation and take a look at some of the players in our ranks."

"We already brought in Angelo Mathews into the fold in our last white-ball series," captain Dasun Shanaka said. "We have a relatively young team and it is good to have that depth." Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Rahmat Shah, Ibrahim Zadran and Riaz Hassan.