Gujarat Titans Rashid Khan making an attempt to catch a ball throughout the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty-20 cricket match between Delhi Capitals and Gujarat Titans on the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi on Wednesday, April 24, 2024.
| Photo Credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR
Eight players that includes in the continuing Indian Premier League have been named in the 15-member Afghanistan T20 World Cup squad to be led by star all-rounder Rashid Khan.
Hashmatullah Shahidi, who captained Afghanistan on the 2023 ODI World Cup, has been unnoticed of the squad named by the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
Left-handed opener Hazratullah Zazai, Sediqullah Atal and Mohammad Saleem Safi have been named as travelling reserves for the marquee occasion to be performed in the USA and the Caribbean from June 2.
Rashid, Azmatullah Omarzai, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen Ul Haq, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Gulbadin Naib are the Afghan players presently taking part in in the IPL.
The squad has solely 4 batters in wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran and back-up keeper Mohammad Ishaq. But, six all-rounders have been named to make up for the lesser variety of specialist batters.
Apart from Rashid, the opposite all-rounders are Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat and Nangeyalia Kharote.
Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Noor are the opposite spinners together with Rashid, Nabi, Kharote.
Right-arm quick bowler Naveen-ul-Haq, left-armers Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad will man the tempo division, together with the all-rounders.
Janat, Ishaq and Noor have been after lacking the 2022 T20 World Cup.
Afghanistan are in Group C in the 20-team event, together with New Zealand, co-hosts West Indies, Uganda and Papua New Guinea. They play their first match in opposition to Uganda on June three at Providence.
The squad: Rashid Khan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik.
Reserves: Sediqullah Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Saleem Safi.