Mujeeb Ur Rahman will play no further part in the 2024 T20 World Cup after a recurrence of the finger injury that kept him out of IPL 2024. Mujeeb played in Afghanistan's opening fixture of the World Cup against Uganda, but has not featured since because of the injury - a sprain in the index finger on his bowling hand.
He has been replaced in Afghanistan's squad by Hazratullah Zazai, the opening batter. The ICC confirmed on Friday afternoon that their event technical committee had approved the replacement, following Afghanistan's victory over Papua New Guinea.
Afghanistan had a replacement for Mujeeb in their squad in Noor Ahmad, who played in their last two fixtures. Noor bowled one wicketless over in their win over New Zealand but took 1 for 14 in his four overs on Thursday night, trapping PNG's top-scorer Kiplin Doriga lbw with a googly.
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"He's going to be a big part for us going forward, as these wickets continue to wear," Jonathan Trott, Afghanistan's coach, said of Noor. "It's always nice to have the option of him to come into the side, or the left-arm spin of Nangeyalia Kharote, who can come into the side - he did really well in the last [series] against Ireland - and obviously [Mohammad] Nabi, who can bowl spin as well."
Zazai, the left-hand opening batter, is not a like-for-like replacement for Mujeeb but will bolster Afghanistan's batting options. He has not played a T20I since February but did feature at the last two T20 World Cups, and has the second-highest individual score in a men's T20I.
Afghanistan sealed their spot in the Super Eight stage by beating PNG and face West Indies in their final group game on Monday in St Lucia.