Asghar Afghan reappointed as Afghanistan skipper across formats

Asghar Afghan, who was axed as Afghanistan skipper ahead of the 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup, has been reappointed to the post across all formats of the game. 

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed the news on its official Twitter handle. 

"As per the decision by ACB Top management, Senior player Asghar Afghan is reappointed as team Afghanistan's Captain across formats," the ACB wrote.

As a result, the 31-year-old will take over the mantle from Rashid Khan, who was appointed as Afghanistan skipper across all formats in July after the side made a disappointing last-place finish in the ICC World Cup under the captaincy of Gulbadin Naib.

In April, Asghar was sacked as the captain of the Afghanistan cricket team less than two months before the 2019 edition of the showpiece event and the board decided to go with split captaincy. 

While all-rounder Gulbadin Naib was named as the new ODI skipper of Afghanistan, Rahmat Shah and Rashid Khan had taken over the reins of Test and T20I sides, respectively. 

The decision, however, did not go down well within the team, with Rashid and senior member Mohammad Nabi among others coming in support of Afghan and bemoaning the instability just prior to the Men's Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.

Notably, it was under Asghar's stint that Afghanistan became a full member of the ICC and qualified for the 2019 World Cup with a win over West Indies in the final of the tournament qualifiers in 2018 in Zimbabwe. 

Besides this, Asghar also led Afghanistan to their historic maiden Test win against Ireland in Dehradun.