In a lift to their spin bowling shares the Sydney Sixers have signed Afghanistan legspinner Izharulhaq Naveed to their squad for this season’s Big Bash League (BBL) after England’s Rehan Ahmed withdrew from the match. “Naveed comes into the squad as the club’s third international player after English spinner Rehan Ahmed withdrew from the tournament,” Sydney Sixers mentioned in an official assertion.

The 20-year-old Afghan, who performed 9 matches for the Sixers final summer season, taking 9 wickets, is taken into account one of the proficient younger leg spinners on the worldwide T20 circuit.

In a Sixers loss to eventual BBL title winners Perth, Naveed stood tall, taking match figures of 4/22, together with the wickets of World Cup-winning star Josh Inglis and final 12 months’s BBL main run scorer Aaron Hardie.

Sixers head coach Greg Shipperd mentioned Naveed introduced some extent of distinction to the Sixers’ spin shares alongside veteran tweaker Steve O’Keefe, Test off spinner Todd Murphy and rising all-rounder Joel Davies.

“We are not going to get to see Rehan Ahmed this season but we wish him well, and at the same time welcome Naveed back to the club,” Shipperd mentioned in an official assertion by Sydney Sixers.

“We are fortunate to have been able to bring back a player of Naveed’s talent and we know he will fit in with our group. Our spinning group is building nicely with SOK (O’Keefe), Todd (Murphy) and young Joel Davies, whose left arm offers complement his strong batting and fielding,” he added.

The Sixers, with celebrity Steve Smith locked and loaded, open their BBL|13 marketing campaign at house on the SCG on Friday towards the Melbourne Renegades.