Afghanistan announce squad for Bangladesh tour
The tour will start with a test match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and a tri-nation T20 series between the hosts Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will follow.
Afghanistan have announced the squad for their upcoming tour of Bangladesh. Rashid Khan will be leading the side and the most noticeable exclusion is Mohammad Shahzad, who has been banned for a year by the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
The tour will start with a test match between Bangladesh and Afghanistan, and a tri-nation T20 series between the hosts Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will follow.
Veteran seamer Shapoor Zadran is in the squad and awaits his debut in the longer format, whereas wicket-keeper batsman Afsar Zazai has also been included. Left-arm chinaman Zahir Khan and medium-pacer Ahmad Shirzad are in the team, and so are opener Ibrahim Zadran and leg-spinner Qais Ahmed, the latter two looking for their debut in Afghan colors.
Mohammad Shahzad, the long-serving Afghan wicket-keeper, is serving a suspension for misconduct and thus is out from cricketing action for a year. The others to miss out are middle-order batsman Nasir Jamal, left-arm spinner Sharafuddin Ashraf, paceman Wafadar Momand, and left-arm wristspinner Waqar Salamkheil. These players were the part of the side who beat Ireland in their first-ever test victory.
The 17-man T20 squad has three uncapped players who are - left-hand batsman Shahidullah, medium pace-bowling allrounder Fazal Niazai, and wicketkeeper-batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
The Afghan team will reach Bangladesh on 30th this month, before their two-day warm-up match against BCB XI commencing on the 1st of September at Chittagong. The first test will be held at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, starting on the 5th of September. The tri-nation T20 tournament will begin on September 13, with a match between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Mirpur.
Afghanistan Test squad: Rashid Khan (C), Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Ihsanullah Janat, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Ikram Ali Khil, Zahir Khan, Javed Ahmadi, Sayed Shirzad, Yameen Ahmadzai, Afsar Zazai, Shapoor Zadran, Qais Ahmad.
Afghanistan T20I squad: Rashid Khan (C), Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai, Najeeb Tarakai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Najibullah Zadran, Shahidullah Kamal, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Farid Ahmad Malik, Shafiqullah Shafaq, Fazal Niazai, Dawlat Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
