Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad to miss rest of World Cup

The wicketkeeper-batsman aggravated his knee injury in the first two matches

Mohammad-Shahzad-afp Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad celebrates Sri Lanka's Kusal Perera's dismissal during the 2019 World Cup group stage match at Sophia Gardens stadium in Cardiff, south Wales | AFP

Afghanistan opener Mohammad Shahzad will miss the rest of the World Cup after suffering a knee injury, tournament organisers revealed on Thursday.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Shahzad will be replaced by Ikram Ali Khil in a blow to the World Cup minnows, who have lost their opening two matches.

The 32-year-old scored just seven runs against Australia and Sri Lanka before the injury curtailed his tournament.

"The ICC has approved Ikram Ali Khil as a replacement player for Mohammad Shahzad in the Afghanistan squad for the remainder of the tournament," an ICC statement said.

"Wicketkeeper Shahzad has suffered a knee injury which has ruled him out of further participation in the event." Shahzad had retired hurt after suffering a knee injury in Afghanistan's World Cup warm-up fixture against Pakistan.

While he featured in their opening games against Australia and Sri Lanka, the aggravated injury has ruled him out of the rest of the competition.

Since the 2015 World Cup, Shahzad has been Afghanistan's second highest run-scorer in one-day internationals with 1843 runs in 55 innings.

Khil made his ODI debut against Ireland in March this year and has played just two games. While he stayed unbeaten on five in his first ODI, he was dismissed for one in the second game after being pushed up the order. He also featured in the Test against Ireland in Dehradun and has played seven List A games.

Khil was part of Afghanistan's squad in the Under-19 World Cup last year and scored 185 runs in four matches at an average of 46.25 but had a poor strike rate of 59.87. He was also part of the Under-19 squad that played the world cup in 2016.