Asia Cup 2022: Afghanistan Squad and Schedule

The Asia Cup in 2022 is the perfect tournament for Afghanistan to make their presence felt. The squad has been struggling in the World tournaments for quite some time now and thus, the Asian tournament is the time when they should come out of their shell. 

The team always lacked experience in the past. However, with many of their players playing multiple T20 leagues across the globe, they now have the experience that’s needed to go the distance. Things will not be easy though. The Afghans are part of the group of death where they will challenge Sri Lanka in the very first match of the tournament. Three days later (30th August), the team will challenge Bangladesh to qualify for the super fours of the competition.

Their performance in the last T20 World Cup wasn’t appreciable as well. The team only managed to defeat Namibia and Scotland in the tournament and thus they have the pressure to do well in the Asia Cup. Captain Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan will have to take added responsibility to release all the pressure and give confidence to the youngsters.

Here’s all you need to know about the Afghanistan team

The Afghanistan team never gets the tag of being dangerous. However, there are a couple of players who can change the complexion of the match at any point. Bowling has always been their strength. If the spin wizard Rashid Khan gets going, it will be really difficult for any other opponent to establish their superiority.

However, Rashid himself won’t be able to deliver all the time. Najibullah Zadran is in a good form and he will hope to continue that. The lower middle order has been a problem for the team as captain Mohammad Nabi is out of form at the moment. The team backs heavily on their bowling and if the pitches are spin-friendly, the team can create havoc in Asia Cup 2022.

Squad: Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ibrahim Zadran, Karim Janat, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Naveen ul Haq, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari.

On standby: Nijat Masood, Qais Ahmed, Sharafuddin Ashraf.

Afghanistan’s schedule – 

1st Match – 27th of August – Sri Lanka versus Afghanistan

2nd Match – 30th of August – Bangladesh versus Afghanistan