But Rashid's return helps make up for Mujeeb and Noor's absence. Rashid was ruled out of Afghanistan's ongoing one-off Test against New Zealand, with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) saying he can't play red-ball cricket till he gets medical clearance due to an "ongoing injury".

Rashid had undergone back surgery after last year's World Cup, and was thus out of action for four months, during which time he missed entire assignments against UAE, India and Sri Lanka, and ODIs against Ireland. That apart, Rashid also had to withdraw from the BBL and the SA20, before finally returning to action in the Ireland T20Is this March.

Since his surgery, Rashid has only played T20s, following up his comeback series with the IPL, T20 World Cup, MLC, the Hundred, and the Shpageeza Cricket League (SCL), Afghanistan's domestic T20 competition. But after back trouble, Rashid also injured his hamstring while playing for Trent Rockets in the Hundred, as a result missing the last week of the competition, before facing back issues at the SCL, where he played three games.

According to an ACB release, Malik was called up to act as cover for the injured opening batter Ibrahim Zadran, whose ankle sprain first forced him to miss the one-off Test against New Zealand, and now rules him out of the ODIs against South Africa.

The three-match ODI series begins on September 18, with all games to be played in Sharjah. This will be the first time that Afghanistan and South Africa will be facing-off in a bilateral ODI series, having only met at the 2019 and 2023 World Cups before.

For Afghanistan, this series will serve as preparation for the Champions Trophy early next year, for which they qualified for the first time by finishing sixth in the league stage of the 2023 World Cup.

Afghanistan squad for South Africa ODIs

Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ikram Alikhil, Abdul Malik, Riaz Hassan, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, AM Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran, Fareed Ahmad