Afghanistan Cricket Board has named 15-member squad for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in June. Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead Afghanistan in the series starting on June 2 at Hambantota. This will help Afghanistan in preparing for this year’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup.
The squad
The 15-member squad members are Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhail (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujib ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Abdul Rahman, Fazal Haq Farooqi, and Farid Ahmad Malik. Gulbadin Naib, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zia ur Rahman Akbar have been named as four reserves.
Abdul Rahman has been added to the squad after some strong domestic performance the One Day Cup competition. Others who impressed have been added as the reserve players for the series. The squad also comprises of three top-ten bowlers from ICC ODI Rankings, Rashid Khan (sixth), Mujib ur Rahman (eighth) and Mohammad Nabi (10th). Afghanistan Cricket Board chair Mirwais Ashraf said that the squad is shaping up well keeping the 50-over World Cup scheduled to be played at the end of this year.
“It’s good to have a couple of young faces for the series; the build-up for the ICC Cricket World Cup has already begun, and we are looking for every possible opportunity to build a good combination of the team and prepare them well for the event.”
Hambantota to host the series
Afghanistan have already qualified for the World Cup after finishing seventh in the recently concluded Men’s World Cup Super League and will be confident to continue the flow in the upcoming series against Sri Lanka. Hambantota will host all of three matches of the ODI series at the Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium starting on June 2. The next two matches of the series will be played on June 4 and 7.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Cricket Board took to the social media to announce the squad.
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