Ghani pauses Afghanistan career after alleging corruption in management, selection

Following his exclusion from the Afghanistan national side, opening batter Usman Ghani has chosen to take a break from international cricket. Ghani alleged that the leadership in the Afghanistan set-up is corrupt, and that he would "eagerly wait for the right" management and selection committee before making a comeback.

Ghani last represented Afghanistan in March against Pakistan, scoring 7 and 15, and in the last two years played 11 T20I innings at an average of 23.50 and a strike rate of 99.15. His international debut was in 2014 and he last played an ODI in 2022 before losing his place in the 50-over format. With his recent exclusion from T20Is in Bangladesh, he is effectively ruled out of white-ball cricket. Ghani has never quite been considered for red-ball cricket.

"After careful consideration, I have decided to take a break from Afghanistan Cricket," Ghani wrote on Twitter. "The corrupt leadership in the cricket board has compelled me to step back. I will continue my hard work and eagerly await the right management and selection committee to be put in place. Once that happens, I will proudly return to play for Afghanistan. Until then, I am backing myself from representing my beloved nation."

Ghani also stated that he made multiple attempts to meet the chairman of Afghanistan Cricket Board, Mirwais Ashraf, but "he remained unavailable." Ghani also criticised the new chief selector Asadullah Khan for not offering a "satisfactory response" on dropping him from all formats.

In the Afghanistan set up, Ghani has been replaced by veteran wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Shahzad, who returned after a gap of 19 months after improving his fitness and scoring runs consistently in the domestic circuit. He was among the leading run-getters, scoring 264 at an average of 44 in the Green Afghanistan One Day Cup and 440 runs at 88 in the regional Miwais Nika three-day tournament.

For the opening slot, the selectors have retained 21-year-old Sediqullah Atal. He scored three half-centuries, including 94 for Defenders in the Green One Day Cup, averaging 49.75 in four games. Atal is considered a long-term prospect for the national side.

"Shahzad's selection is based on domestic performance and we want to see him up there," chief selector Asadullah told ESPNcricinfo. "We are basically looking at the 2024 T20 World Cup and trying out players. With Shahzad, we feel he can contribute with this opportunity for him to prove how well he can do. He is not part of our ODI plans but the focus is to go with him to the T20 World Cup. Also, it was the captain and coach's demand to see Shahzad as an option and how it goes. We don't have anyone other than [Rahmanullah] Gurbaz in the top order so we want to build a backup."

"We have plenty of time for the T20 World Cup, so it's not an end for anyone. We have plenty of cricket coming ahead and will keep including youngsters. We have invested a lot in youngsters and they are part of the pool like Sediq Atal is there as well. So we also want to make sure we have more options. Our plan is to build a bigger pool and we have players for every role to gain benefit in different conditions against different opponents. We must have different options on the bench to counter the strength of opponents."

On Ghani's allegations, though, the ACB offered no comment. Afghanistan play three ODIs and two T20Is in Bangladesh starting Wednesday.