T20 World Cup 2021 – Afghanistan revise T20 World Cup squad, Mohammad Nabi to lead
Sharafuddin Ashraf and Dawlat Zadran moved to reserves, Fareed Ahmad added to main squad from reserves
Afghanistan have announced a revised 15-member squad for the T20 World Cup, with Mohammad Nabi as captain. Last month, Rashid Khan had stepped down as captain after alleging that the he had not been part of the selection process for the squad previously named by the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
From that 18-member squad released last month, Sharafuddin Ashraf and Dawlat Zadran have missed out on selection from the main squad and are now in the reserves, while there is no place for Shapoor Zadran and Qais Ahmad. Left-arm seamer Fareed Ahmad, who was in the reserves during the last round, is now part of the main 15-member squad while Afsar Zazai, the other reserve player, has missed out on selection entirely. Allrounder Samiullah Shinwari, and 21-year-old seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi have been drafted into the reserves that round off a 19-member playing contingent.
After Afghanistan had originally named a larger squad than the limit of 15, and with Rashid’s resignation, changes to Afghanistan’s squad had been likely. All teams that will be playing the T20 World Cup from round two – the Super 12s – onwards have till midnight on October 15 to make tweaks to their squads.
Afghanistan’s last T20I series was in March 2021 against Zimbabwe, during which Asghar Afghan had led the team.
Nabi, who has captained Afghanistan before between early 2013 and the 2015 ODI World Cup, will be part of Afghanistan’s new leadership group that consists of Andy Flower as consultant, Lance Klusener as head coach, and Shaun Tait as bowling coach. Afghanistan are pooled in Group 2 alongside Pakistan, India, New Zealand and a qualifier from round one, and kick off their campaign on October 25 in Sharjah.
Updated squad: Mohammad Nabi (capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan, Gulbadin Naib, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Hamid Hassan, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen Ul Haq
Reserve players: Sharafuddin Ashraf, Samiullah Shinwari, Dawlat Zadran, Fazalhaq Farooqi
