Rashid Khan ruled out from the first and second ODI against Sri Lanka due to a lower back injury

Afghanistan faced a major blow ahead of the first one-dayer against Sri Lanka after their ace spinner Rashid has been ruled out from the first and second ODI due to a lower back injury.

Rashid Khan was recently seen in action at the recently concluded IPL playing for the Gujrat Titans which his team ended as runner-up.

Though the Afghanistan star was the tournament’s joint second-highest wicket-taker with 27 strikes he had a bad outing in the finale against Chennai Super Kings which he was thrashed all over the park to end his quota of overs reading 44-0.

However, Rashid Khan is expected to be fit for the third and Final ODI on 7 June.

Rashid’s absence means Afghanistan will rely more on his IPL teammate Noor Ahmad who also represented Gujarat Titans at the IPL 2023.

Noor had a successful IPL stint for the Titans, bagging 16 wickets from 13 games and also fared well in the grand finale picking up 2 important wickets from Ruturag Gaikwad and Devon Conway and giving away just 17 runs. Though Noor hasn’t much experience playing for Afghanistan the youngster is expected to play a major role in turning wickets in Hambanthota.

The Afghanistan vs Sri Lanka three-match series begins on June 2. Just seven days after the ODI series, Afghanistan is scheduled to play a one-off Test against Bangladesh in Chattogram.