Posted by Controversies striked immediately after Afghanistan announced their squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup that’s scheduled to commence on the 17th of October in UAE, Afghanistan have named a competitive 18+2 man squad for the upcoming mega ICC event.
Afghanistan when announced the squad named Rashid Khan as the captain of the side, Rashid Khan minutes after the team was announced stepped down from the captaincy role. Rashid Khan on social media shared a post that read, “As the captain and responsible person for the nation I reserve the right to be part of the selection of the team. The selection committee and ACB has not obtained my consent for the team which has been announced by the ACB media. I’m taking the decision of stepping down from the role as the captain of Afghanistan T20 side effective immediately. It’s always my proud playing for Afghanistan.”
AFGHANISTAN’S SQUAD FOR T20 WC : Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Karim Janat, Hazratullah Zazai, Gulbadin Naib, Usman Ghani, Naveen ul Haq, Asghar Afghan, Hamid Hassan, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Dawlat Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Shapoor Zadran, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Qais Ahmad.
Travelling reserves : Afsar Zazai, Fareed Ahmad
Afghanistan named senior player Mohammad Nabi as the team’s captain. Afghanistan do have a good batting lineup and especially with many senior men returning to the side, the senior men haven’t been much with the squad lately but are backed for the mega ICC event. Batting remains a concern for Afghanistan with senior men returning that’s created shuffle in the mix and there will have to be a lot of working with batters who have looked good on a day and have massively failed to carry momentum to the next.
Bowling has and remains Afghanistan’s strength, spinners are key and construct Afghanistan’s bowling lineup. Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohd Nabi are likely to be the 3 frontline spinners in the squad. Pacers duo of Zardan are recalled after long. The pace department often lacks control and will be a working department for Afghanistan.
Afghanistan are placed in group B and will begin their tournament playing team B1 (team that qualify to super 12 from round 1 fixtures) on 25th of October and next play Pakistan on 29th of October. Again a fixture from round 1 to super 12 as Afghanistan play A2 on 31st of October before they play India and New Zealand on 3rd and 7th of November respectively.
Afghanistan with anything around 150-155 will fancy their chances having the best spin attack in world cricket and will be a threat, batting remains a suprise element on days they can put up 200 and next day can even fall to 100-120. Afghanistan do remain in contention for qualification to the knockouts but have a couple of aspects to focus on for an inspiring finish.
Bureau of sports 