Kabul, May 31: The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has sacked senior cricketer Asghar Afghan from the national team's captaincy following his team's Test match defeat against Zimbabwe in March in Abu Dhabi.
The ACB said in a statement on Monday (May 31) that "some of Afghan's decisions as captain of the side resulted in Afghanistan's loss to Zimbabwe in the first test of the series."
The ACB didn't highlight any particular decision made by Afghan during the match but said the decision to remove him from the captaincy was taken on the basis of an "investigation conducted by ACB's investigative committee."
"The decision to remove Asghar Afghan from captaincy was taken based on an investigation conducted by ACB's Investigative committee which concluded that some of Afghan's decisions as the captain of the team resulted in Afghanistan's loss to Zimbabwe in the first Test of the series between both sides in Abu Dhabi in March," said the ACB release.
Zimbabwe thumped Afghanistan by 10 wickets inside two days in the first Test before Afghanistan levelled the series by winning the second Test by six wickets.
Meanwhile, the Afghan board approved the proposition to go ahead with split-captaincy for the national team and appointed left-handed batsman Hashmatullah Shahidi as the new Test and ODI captain. While Rahmat Shah will be Shahidi's deputy in both formats. Afghanistan's star leg-spinner Rashid Khan was named the vice-captain for T20s while the ACB said it will soon announce a captain for the format.
"As per the decision, left-hander Hashmatullah Shahidi is appointed the new ODI and Test Captain of the National team while Rahmat Shah will serve as the Vice-captain for both formats. Furthermore, it was decided that all-rounder Rashid Khan will remain the Vice-Captain of the T20I team while the decision to appoint the new captain will be taken soon," the release added further.