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Afghanistan have suffered a big blow ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025. Mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar has been ruled out of the tournament due to a ‘fracture in the L4 vertebra’.
The 18-year-old spinner had a wonderful start to his ODI career. He has played 11 ODIs so far in his career and has returned with 21 wickets at an average of 13.57 with an economy rate of 4.05. He has a couple of five-wicket hauls already. His career best figures are 6/26 which came against Bangladesh in November last year.
Ghazanfar was even picked in the IPL auction 2025. He was bought by Mumbai Indians (MI) for a sum of INR 4.8 crore. However, he has even been ruled out of the 2025 edition of the IPL as the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed that Ghazanfar will be out of action for at least four months.
“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. 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,” Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) was quoted saying in a statement.
Nangeyalia Kharote who was in the list of reserves has replaced Ghazanfar in the 15-man squad. The 20-year-old left-arm spinner has featured in seven ODIs in his short career so far and has picked up 11 scalps at an economy rate of 3.68.
Mujeeb Ur Rahman was another option who was originally excluded from the squad. However, the 23-year-old mystery spinner hasn’t recovered fully from his injuries. Although, he did feature in all the games for Paarl Royals in the recently concluded SA20 2025 where he took 14 scalps in 12 matches at an economy of 6.77.
Apart from Kharote who has been recently added to the squad, Afghanistan’s spin attack boasts of the likes of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Noor Ahmad.
Afghanistan land in Pakistan for Champions Trophy 2025
The Afghanistan team reached Lahore on the 12th of February ahead of their maiden Champions Trophy appearance. They were escorted to the team hotel under immense security.
Their first game of the tournament is against South Africa on the 21st of February in Karachi. Prior to that, they will undergo a conditioning camp before facing Pakistan ‘A’ and New Zealand in a couple of practice encounters.
AFGHANISTAN SQUAD: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah (vice-captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicket-keeper), Ikram Alikhil (wicket-keeper), Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Nangeyalia Kharote, Fareeh Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran.
