Afghanistan paceman Dawlat Zadran ruled out of one-off Test against India due to knee injury

New Delhi: Ahead of their inaugural Test against India from 14-18 June in Bengaluru, Afghanistan were dealt a major blow after paceman Dawlat Zadran was ruled out with a knee injury. Zadran was also ruled out of his side’s three T20 Internationals against Bangladesh, starting 3 June in Dehradun, an International Cricket Council (ICC) release stated.

According to the Afghan Cricket Board (ACB), the 30-year-old pacer hurt himself during training in India and was advised a month’s rest. Zadran, who has 137 wickets from 105 international matches, has been in good form for Afghanistan. During their title run in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 in Zimbabwe earlier this year, he picked up eight wickets and also took a hat-trick in the warm-up match before the main tournament. The absence of an experienced paceman capable of hitting 140kph could leave the team with some concerns. The team has been training at Greater Noida under coach Phil Simmons ahead of these matches.