Afghanistan announce squad for Zimbabwe tour

KABUL: Afghanistan on Tuesday announced its squads for the three one-day internationals and as many Twenty20 clashes on their tour of Zimbabwe next month.

The three T20Is will count towards the ICC T20I rankings, whereas the three ODI matches will be part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.

Afghanistan are fifth on the points table of the 13-team league. A qualification round for the 2023 World Cup (50 overs) is to be held in India.

All-rounder Gulbadin Naib has been left out over poor form, while slow left-arm spinner Zia ur Rehman Akbar, leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Green Afghanistan One-Day Cup, has been added to the 16-man ODI squad.

Ace spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and fellow slow bowler Qais Ahmad will miss the T20I series due to their commitments in the T20 Blast in England and are replaced by Ihsanullah Jannat and Noor Ahmad.

Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead the ODI squad while Mohammad Nabi is skipper for the T20Is, played from June 4 to 14.

Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Alikhail, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Riaz Hassan, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zia ur Rahman Akbar.