Rahmat Shah’s involvement in this three-match ODI series now looks doubtful after a painful calf injury forced him off the field – and eventually out of the ground in a wheelchair – during the second game in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
Afghanistan’s No.4 felt something go in the 15th over while pushing for a single. The shot itself was harmless, just a gentle clip, but the sharp turn on his left heel left him clutching the calf straight away. He hobbled towards square-leg, spoke briefly with the physio, then retired hurt on 9.
The innings never quite recovered. Without Rahmat, fresh from a half-century in the opening ODI and newly anointed as the first Afghan to 4,000 ODI runs, wickets kept falling at awkward intervals. Only Ibrahim Zadran managed to stick around for any length of time and the total crawled to 190 all out in 44.5 overs.
There was a moment of hope – and a decent round of applause – when Rahmat re-emerged after the ninth wicket went down. One ball later it was over. Rishad Hossain sent down a googly – a leg-spinner’s delivery that spins the other way – Rahmat mis-read it, took the impact in the midriff and dropped to the turf. Mehidy Hasan Miraz helped him back on his feet but the batter couldn’t stay there, let alone run. The stretcher wasn’t used; the wheelchair was.
Team physio Nirmalan Thanabalasingam, who sprinted to the middle twice in the space of half an hour, delivered the blunt update afterwards. “He unfortunately succumbed to his injury so he is out now,” he said. “We will do the all the right things in terms of imaging and stuff tomorrow. He is going to be out for some time, I think.”
No scans yet, so no exact timeline, but a torn calf typically rules a player out for several weeks, occasionally longer if there’s any tendon involvement. Afghanistan’s selectors will almost certainly need cover before the final ODI – and perhaps for the incoming Test tour.
Bangladesh, for their part, kept their composure. Taskin Ahmed, operating with the new ball, had already removed the openers; Rishad and Mehidy then shared six wickets between them once Rahmat had gone. “Losing a batter mid-innings always shifts the balance,” bowling coach Allan Donald observed on the TV broadcast. “You could see the momentum swing when Rahmat walked off.”
From Afghanistan’s perspective the bigger worry is cumulative. Rahmat anchors the middle order, dovetailing with Hashmatullah Shahidi and providing a calm hand whenever the top three mis-fire. With him in a moon-boot – as he was leaving the stadium – there’s a strategic hole as well as a numerical one.
There will be an update once the scans land. For now, Afghanistan must prepare as if their most experienced batter won’t be available. It’s not ideal, but that’s international cricket: the series doesn’t pause for sore calves, however influential the owner of that calf might be.
