The Afghanistan Cricket Board has released the preliminary squad for the forthcoming T20 tri-series with Pakistan and the UAE, alongside the Asia Cup 2025. This announcement came on the 6th of August.
The selectors have named Rashid Khan as captain, and he is in the squad alongside renowned cricketers like Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Allah Ghazanfar, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen ul Haq, with Karim Janat, Ibrahim Zadran, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
As per the ACB, a selected group of 22 players will participate in a two-week training camp in preparation for the Tri-Nation Series and the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup.
“We have announced a preliminary squad for the preparation camp ahead of the tri-nation series and Asia Cup where the newly-included guys will be checked by both the coaching staff and the captain during the training and preparation camp,” Mir Mubariz, ACB’s selection committee member told Cricbuzz.
“Yeah, we will probably go with these 22 players to the upcoming Asia Cup, but there might be changes in case of injury, and we will take care of such issues with the passage of time,” he added.
The UAE will host the Asia Cup 2025 from 9th to 28th September. Afghanistan will play their opening match on 9th September against Hong Kong at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Their second Group B match will be against Bangladesh on 16th September at the same venue. Their third group match will be against Sri Lanka on 18th September, again in Abu Dhabi.
In the most recent multi-nation T20I tournament, that is the T20 World Cup 2024, Afghanistan surprised everyone by becoming semifinalists. But in the semifinal match, they were unable to defeat the South African team under the leadership of Aiden Markram.
