Afghanistan national cricket team has announced its strong squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Ireland national cricket team. The announcement was made through the official social media channels of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Wednesday, March 13.
Star and captain Rashid Khan has been named in the squad and will make a grand return to competitive cricket after being out of action for an extended period due to injury.
Rashid Khan was last seen in action during the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 in India where the Australian National Cricket Team broke the hearts of Indians by defeating Rohit Sharma & Co. in the summit clash to lift another ICC championship.
Notably, Rashid Khan was in good form during the 2023 World Cup and has since been out of action due to a back injury. During his rehabilitation period, Rashid Khan traveled with the Afghanistan team and was in India for the three-match T20I series in January. However, he was not fit enough to take part in the T20Is in India.
He would hope to make an instant impact in the series against the Ireland national cricket team as he would then travel to India to take part in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 for the Gujarat Titans (GT).
With Rashid Khan missing the action for the Afghans, the bowling duties fell to Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Mohammad Nabi, Noor Ahmad, Qais Ahmad, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Allah Ghazanfar and Nangyal Kharoti, who did a good job for the team. .
Along with Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman returns from injury for Afghanistan vs Ireland T20Is
Apart from Rashid, Mujeeb Ur Rahman also missed the Afghanistan matches due to injury and will also return to cricket in the Ireland T20I series.
“Rashid Khan and Mujeeb Ur Rahman continue to recover from their respective injuries and are not available for selection,” ACB chief selector Ahmad Shah Sulimankhil said while picking the ODI squad for the Ireland series.
The white-ball series between the Afghanistan national cricket team and the Ireland national cricket team consists of a three-match ODI series and a three-match T20I series. The ODI series has already concluded and the Afghans won it by a margin of 2-0. They won the first and third ODI matches by 35 runs and 117 runs respectively, while the second match was abandoned.
The T20I series between the two teams will begin on March 15 in Sharjah. The next two matches of the series will also take place in Sharjah on March 17 and 18. The Afghans will ever enter the series as favorites and a win over the Irish team would boost their confidence as a T20I team as they are also set to win. He will participate in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, which will be held in the West Indies and the United States.
Afghanistan T20I Squad for Ireland T20Is: Rashid Khan (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediq Atal, Ijaz Ahmadzai, Ishaq Rahimi (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Nangyal Kharotai, Azmat Omarzai, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Wafadar Momand, Farid Malik, Naveen Ul Haq, FazalHaq Farooqi