Mystery spinner A.M. Ghazanfar has been left out of Afghanistan’s T20I squad but retained his place in the ODI side. Left-arm pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, all-rounder Gulbadin Naib, and Karim Janat have all been omitted from the squad. Despite their absence, Afghanistan have announced a limited-overs squad to face Bangladesh.
Two new faces have been included – left-arm pacer Bashir Ahmad and top-order batter Wafiyullah Tarakhil. On Saturday, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named separate squads for three T20Is and three ODIs to be held in the UAE. Both squads feature the 20-year-old Bashir, while 18-year-old Wafiyullah has been selected only for the T20Is.
“A.M. Ghazanfar has also been dropped from the T20I squad” and is on the reserve list alongside Rahmat Shah, although he retains his spot in the ODI team.
So far, Bashir has taken 12 wickets in 14 T20 matches and 4 wickets in 5 List A games. Wafiyullah has scored 794 runs in 33 T20s at a strike rate of 145.95. In the recent domestic Shpageeza Cricket League, he was the tournament’s third-highest scorer, making 298 runs at an average of 37.25 and a strike rate of 155.20.
“A.M. Ghazanfar has also been dropped from the T20I squad” and is on the reserve list with Rahmat Shah. However, he continues in the ODI setup. The ODI squad also sees the return of Darwish Rasooli, Nangeyalia Kharote, Abdullah Ahmadzai, and Mohammad Saleem.
Even without Ghazanfar, Afghanistan still have four spinners in the T20I squad — captain Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, and Mohammad Nabi. The ODI squad also includes four spinners: Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Ghazanfar, and Nangeyalia Kharote.
The two teams will first play the T20I series, with matches scheduled on October 2, 3, and 5 in Sharjah. The three ODIs will take place in Abu Dhabi on October 8, 11, and 14. In their last T20I meeting at the Asia Cup, Afghanistan lost to Bangladesh by 8 runs and exited from the group stage.
Afghanistan T20I squad
Rashid Khan (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Mohammad Ishaq, Sediqullah Atal, Wafiyullah Tarakhil, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Bashir Ahmad, Farid Ahmad, Abdullah Ahmadzai.
Reserves: A.M. Ghazanfar, Rahmat Shah.
Afghanistan ODI squad
Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ikram Alikhil, Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, A.M. Ghazanfar, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Bashir Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem.
Reserves: Bilal Sami, Faridun Dawoodzai.
