In a major blow to Afghanistan, star leg-spinner Rashid Khan has pulled out of the 3-match T20I series in India starting January 11.
On the eve of the series opener Afghanistan captain Ibrahim Zadran confirmed that Rashid was not totally fit, hence he won't take part in the series.
'We hope that he gets fit as soon as we expect him to. He’s doing his rehab with the doctor, and we will miss him in the series,' Zadran said.
'Without Rashid, we will struggle because his experience is crucial to all of us, but this is cricket and you need to be ready for any kind of situation,' he added.
However the skipper believes that other players have also played a lot of cricket and he was sure they would perform well.
25-year-old Rashid, who underwent a lower-back surgery a couple of months ago, travelled to Chandigarh with the team and even rolled his arm in the training sessions over the last couple of days.