The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Afghanistan left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi and allrounders Gulbadin Naib and Karim Janat were omitted Saturday from the squads for the upcoming white-ball series against Bangladesh in the United Arab Emirates.
The Afghanistan Cricket Board named uncapped seamer Bashir
Ahmad in both squads as a like-for-like replacement for Farooqi. The
20-year-old left-armer has taken 12 wickets in 14 Twenty20 matches at an
economy rate of 9.06. Top-order batter Wafiullah Tarakhil, 18, earned his first
call-up for the T20 squad after finishing as the third-highest run-scorer in
the Shpageeza Cricket League with 298 runs at an average of 37.25.
Mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar was included in the one-day
international side but placed on the reserve list for the T20s along with
batter Rahmat Shah. Seamer Abdullah Ahmadzai returned to the main T20 lineup
after serving as a reserve during the Asia Cup, where Afghanistan failed to
progress past the league stage.
“This provides the team with an incredible opportunity to
prepare for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup next year,” ACB CEO Naseeb Khan said in
a statement. “The performances in the Asia Cup 2025 were not as expected, but
ups and downs are part of the game. We remain hopeful AfghanAtalan will bounce
back strongly.”
Despite Ghazanfar’s absence from the T20s, Afghanistan
retain significant spin depth with captain Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur
Rahman and Mohammad Nabi. Hashmatullah Shahidi will continue to lead the ODI
team, which is also spin-heavy with Rashid, Nabi, Ghazanfar and Nangeyalia
Kharote.
Sharjah will host three T20Is on Oct. 2, 3 and 5, followed
by a three-match ODI series in Abu Dhabi from Oct. 8-14. The tour completes the
white-ball portion of an originally planned all-format engagement in July 2024
that was rescheduled due to weather and Bangladesh’s congested calendar.
Afghanistan won the ODI leg of the series 2-1 in November 2024.
Afghanistan lost their most recent international match
against Bangladesh, a T20 in Abu Dhabi during the Asia Cup, by eight runs.
Afghanistan T20I squad: Rashid Khan (captain), Ibrahim
Zadran (vice-captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Ishaq
(wicketkeeper), Sediqullah Atal, Wafiullah Tarakhil, Darwish Rasooli,
Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur
Rahman, Bashir Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Abdullah Ahmadzai. Reserves: AM
Ghazanfar, Rahmat Shah.
Afghanistan ODI squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain),
Rahmat Shah (vice-captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wicketkeeper), Ikram Alikhil
(wicketkeeper), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah
Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, AM Ghazanfar, Abdullah
Ahmadzai, Bashir Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem Safi. Reserves: Bilal Sami, Faridoon
Dawoodzai.
