Afghanistan Cricket Board’s National Selection Committee today finalized the Afghanistan National Team’s Squads for the white-ball leg of the Zimbabwe tour which consists of three T20Is and as many ODIs, and are scheduled to be played from December 11 – 21 at the Harare Sports Club in Harare.
Promising young left-handed top-order batter Zubaid Akbari has earned his maiden call-up to the T20I squad.
Additionally, Darwish Rasooli returns to the T20I side after an impressive domestic season.
He also led the AfghanAbdalyan lineup to their maiden title at the ACC Men’s T20 Emerging Asia Cup in Oman, earlier this year.
Afghanistan will continue to miss the services of prolific top-order batter Ibrahim Zadran, who is still recovering from the ankle surgery he recently underwent in England.
However, there’s good news for Afghan fans as frontline spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman has fully recovered from his right phalanx sprain, and has been added to the side for both the T20I and ODI series during the Zimbabwe tour.
Afghanistan T20I Squad for the Zimbabwe Tour:
Rashid Khan (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Mohammad Ishaq (WK), Sediqullah Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Nabi, Darwish Rasooli, Zubaid Akbari, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad and Naveen Ul Haq.
Afghanistan ODI Squad for the Zimbabwe Tour:
Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Abdul Malik, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Nangyal Kharoti, AM Ghazanfar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Bilal Sami, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.
Meanwhile, the white-ball leg of the tour has also seen a slight shift and a change in dates to help the spectators attend the key games during weekends. As per the revised schedule of matches, the three T20Is, which were originally slotted to be played on December 9, 11 and 12, have now been pushed back to Wednesday, 11 December, Friday, 13 December, and Saturday, 14 November.
These adjustments have also affected the ODIs, with the first game now scheduled for Tuesday, 17 December. The second and third ODI match will follow on Thursday 19 December and Saturday, 21 December, respectively. All these matches will be played at the Harare Sports Club.