The ICC has confirmed that the Event Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 has approved Afsar Zazai as a replacement player for Asghar Stanikzai in the Afghanistan squad for the tournament, which began on 4 March. 

Afghanistan captain Stanikzai underwent an emergency operation to remove his appendix on the eve of his side’s first warm-up match against the West Indiesand has now been ruled out of further participation in the tournament.

Zazai is a 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman who has played 17 ODIs, aggregating 264 runs with 60 as his top score. He made his ODI debut against the UAE in November 2014, while his last ODI appearance was against the West Indies in Gros Islet in June 2017.

The replacement of a player requires the approval of the Event Technical Committee before the replacement player can be officially added to the squad.

The Event Technical Committee of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018 is Geoff Allardice (ICC General Manager – Cricket, Chairman), Chris Tetley (ICC Head of Events), Faisal Hasnain, Chris Chiketa (both host nominees), Mpumelelo Mbangwa and Lisa Sthalekar (both independent nominees).

Afghanistan has so far played two matches in the tournament and has lost both - to Scotland and Zimbabwe. The team still has to play Hong Kong and Nepal on 8 and 10 March.