Afghanistan has lost both their matches so far to Australia and Sri Lanka. In the first match against Australia, their batting performed reasonably well scoring 207 runs, with Najibullah Zadran the top scorer with 51.
Australia won the match with ease by 7 wickets. In the second match against Sri Lanka, Afghanistan bowlers did a remarkable job bundling out Sri Lanka for 201. Set a revised target of 187 in 41 overs, their batting let them down and was bowled out for 152.
Before the match against New Zealand on 8th June, Afghanistan has named Ikram Ali Khil as a replacement for Mohammad Shahzad. Playing their 2nd World Cup, they need to be at their best to beat Kiwis side.
In the warm-up match against Pakistan, Shahzad had to retire hurt due to an injury and could not come back to bat after the injury.
Mohammad Shahzad has played a key role in Afghanistan rise in ODI cricket. Since the 2015 World Cup, Mohammad Shahzad scored 1843 runs in 55 innings and has been Afghanistan second leading run scorer.
His replacement Ikram Ali Khil has played just 2 ODI matches so far. He made his debut against Ireland in March this year. He was a part of Afghanistan Under-19 World Cup held in Bangladesh in 2016, also a part of the team of Under 19 World Cup team in the prestigious tournament held in New Zealand in 2018. In 2018 Under 19 World Cup, Khil scored 185 runs from 4 matches ( 4 innings).
Ikram Ali Khil played in Afghanistan’s maiden Test victory over Ireland in March this year. In 2017 finals, Khil played an important role in helping them to win the Asian Cricket Council U19 Cup.