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Afghanistan vs New Zealand One-Off Test: Afghanistan's top order batter Ibrahim Zadran has been ruled out of the one-off Test against New Zealand and will also miss the ODI series against South Africa due to an ankle sprain, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed on Sunday.

The top-order batter will be a major miss for Afghanistan as they take on New Zealand for the first time in Test cricket in Greater Noida from Monday.

The ACB took to X (formerly Twitter) to announce the news and wrote, "Injury Update Afghanistan’s prolific top-order batter @IZadran18 has been ruled out of the upcoming one-off #AFGvNZ Test and the 3-match #AFGvSA ODI series due to an ankle sprain in his left leg.  Get well Soon, Ibra!"

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Earlier, skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi confirmed that the 22-year-old opening batter sustained an injury in his ankle during the team’s final practice session.

So far Afghanistan’s prolific top-order batter Zadran has played nine Tests with his maiden century coming in the format earlier this year in February against Sri Lanka.

After the one-off Test against New Zealand, Afghanistan will play against South Africa in a three-match ODI series in UAE. The series will take place from September 18 to 22 and will be the first meeting between Afghanistan and South Africa outside of ICC tournaments.

Notably, all three games will be hosted by ACB at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Meanwhile, Afghanistan are yet to name a replacement for Zadran for the three-match ODI series against the Proteas.

Squads:

Afghanistan Squad: Rahmat Shah, Riaz Hassan, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Ikram Alikhil(w), Bahir Shah, Shahidullah Kamal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Qais Ahmad, Zahir Khan, Khalil Ahmed, Zia-ur-Rehman, Afsar Zazai, Nijat Masood, Shamsurrahman and Abdul Malik.

New Zealand Squad: Devon Conway, Tom Latham(w), Kane Williamson, Daryl Mitchell, Will Young, Glenn Phillips, Michael Bracewell, Mitchell Santner, Ajaz Patel, Tim Southee(c), Matt Henry, Tom Blundell, Rachin Ravindra, Ben Sears and William ORourke.