New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS): Afghanistan’s premier leg-spinner Rashid Khan makes a return to the squad for its upcoming ODI series against South Africa, scheduled to happen from September 18-22 in Sharjah.

Rashid had missed the previous ODI series against Ireland and was even out of Afghanistan’s one-off Test against New Zealand, which has seen no play for four days due to rain in Greater Noida.

Afghanistan will be without the services of top-order batter Ibrahim Zadran who has been ruled out of the series due to an ankle sprain in his left leg. Spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman will also not be available as he is yet to fully recover from a right phalanx sprain.

In absence of the duo, Afghanistan have got in top-order batter Abdul Malik, who recently put on some incredible performances in domestic List A competitions, and Darwish Rasooli, who has seven T20I caps and put on terrific consistent performances in the recently held List A Cup and the SCL9 tournaments.

"Mujeeb Ur Rahman continues to recover from his injury and is unavailable for selection. Ibrahim Zadran will also miss the South Africa ODIs for twisting his ankle on the edge of the New Zealand Test.”

“However, we have included some of the top-performing youngsters in Abdul Malik and Darwish Rasooli. Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar is also a talented cricketer and has demonstrated excellent skills recently and will cover for Mujeeb Ur Rahman in the series,” said chief selector Ahmad Shah Sulimankhil in a statement.

The rest of the ODI squad remains the same that helped Afghanistan beat Ireland 2-0 in a series held in March this year. “Hosting South Africa for the first time in our cricketing history is a huge milestone for Afghanistan Cricket. They are a top-quality side, and playing against them in an ODI series is something we are all excited about.”

“Our team has shown great performances in ICC events over the past two-three years, and we are focused on making our team equally competitive in bilateral cricket,” said Naseeb Khan, ACB CEO.

The upcoming series is the first time Afghanistan will play South Africa in a bilateral ODI series. The two sides have met twice in the ODI format before in 2019 and 2023 World Cups, with South Africa emerging victorious on both occasions.

Afghanistan squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, Allah Mohammad Ghazanfar, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.