While he was not a part of the Test squad initially, his recent heroics made the Afghanistan board included him as a late addition
Mumbai Indians (MI) new recruit at last month’s Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) auction, Afghanistan spin sensation Allah Ghazanfar is now in the pipeline to make his Test debut against Zimbabwe. While he was not a part of the two-match Test squad initially, Ghazanfar’s recent heroics made the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) add him just a day prior to the start of the red-ball series. The news was confirmed via an official post on ACB’s handle on X (formerly Twitter).
Also with premier spinner Rashid Khan not available for red-ball cricket at the moment, Ghazanfar’s inclusion becomes all the more important.
Bought by MI for INR 4.8 crores, Allah Ghazanfar recently entered the record books for becoming only the third bowler in history to take more than one fifer in ODIs before turning 19, alongside Waqar Younis and compatriot Rashid Khan. While his second fifer was against Zimbabwe in the ODI leg, he had taken his first one against Bangladesh only last month.
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Although the 18-year-old spinner is a relatively unknown commodity, MI’s willingness to spend the big bucks definitely shows the franchise’s faith in the youngster.
Ghazanfar began his ODI career for Afghanistan in March this year against Ireland and since then, he has managed to impress regularly. Ghazanfar boasts solid credentials, picking up 21 scalps in 11 ODI games at a stellar 13.57 average. His economy rate is also just 4.05.
In the recent series with Zimbabwe, Ghazanfar took a total of nine wickets from three matches at an impressive average of 5.22 and an economy rate of 2.96.
Also, he owns 25 scalps in List A cricket from 15 matches.
Earlier, Allah Ghazanfar also played a pivotal role in Afghanistan’s success at the Emerging Teams Asia Cup, taking six wickets across four matches.
Coupled with his ability to hit a few beyond the boundary rope easily, Allah Ghazanfar has all the promise to turn into an asset for MI in the future.
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