On Sunday, January 12, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) formally introduced a powerful squad of the Afghanistan Nationwide Cricket Workforce for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
Workforce Afghanistan will arrive on the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on the again of their sensational performances within the final two ICC tournaments – the ICC Males’s Cricket World Cup 2023 and the ICC Males’s T20 World Cup 2024.
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Mujeeb Ur Rahman neglected of Afghanistan squad
On Sunday, the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s Nationwide Choice Committee introduced the squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, which shall be performed from February 19 to March 09 throughout 4 venues in Dubai and Pakistan.
Hashmatullah Shahidi shall be main the group within the 8-team competitors and Rahmat Shah shall be his deputy. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ikram Alikhil would be the two wicketkeeper-batters within the squad, and star batter Ibrahim Zadran, who was out of motion resulting from an ankle damage, has made his comeback.
Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, and Gulbadin Naib are additionally current within the group, together with famous person spinner Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, and Noor Ahmad.
Nevertheless, Mujeeb Ur Rahman has not been included within the 15-man squad. The spinner has been neglected as a result of he’s but to get better totally from his damage and has been suggested by his physician to concentrate on T20s earlier than returning to ODIs. Additionally, Darwish Rasooli, Nangyal Kharoti, and Bilal Sami have been saved in reserves.
AfghanAtalan have carried out exceptionally nicely up to now two ICC occasions – ACB Chairman
In an official assertion launched by the board, the ACB Chairman, Mr. Mirwais Ashraf, said that they’re assured in regards to the group performing nicely within the marquee match following their success within the final two ICC occasions.
Mirwais was additionally delighted with the appointment of the legendary Pakistan batsman Younis Khan because the mentor of the group and said that the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led facet can be trying ahead to creating full use of his experience. He elaborated:
“AfghanAtalan have carried out exceptionally nicely up to now two ICC occasions, the CWC23 and the ICC World T20 2024. Their spectacular performances in these two occasion coupled with their ODI collection victories final yr will undoubtedly increase their morale and assist them ship a fair higher marketing campaign this time.”
“The appointment of mentors has confirmed to be fairly useful for us in each of the final two occasions. Given this success, now we have appointed Mr. Younis Khan, who has intensive worldwide and native expertise, and we stay up for making full use of his experience through the occasion.”
In the identical media launch, ACB Interim Chief Selector Mr. Ahmad Suliman Khil spoke in regards to the absence of spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and added that the Afghans are used to taking part in within the situations that shall be on provide in Pakistan and UAE. He added that they’ve excessive expectations from Workforce Afghanistan and had been hopeful of the gamers delivering sensible performances.
“Mujeeb Ur Rahman was not out there for the choice as he has been suggested by his physician to concentrate on T20s for some time to make sure his full restoration earlier than returning to ODIs. That was additionally the rationale he missed on the not too long ago concluded ODI collection towards Zimbabwe.”
“Circumstances in Pakistan are much like these in Afghanistan and the UAE, the place we often play. We’ll conduct a preparation camp in a number of phases earlier than embarking on our journey for the large occasion. The expectations are excessive, and I hope the group will put together nicely and ship some glorious performances, simply as they did within the final two World Cups,” he mentioned.
Here is Afghanistan’s 15-man Squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025
Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.
Reserve pool: Darwish Rasooli, Nangyal Kharoti, and Bilal Sami
