Asia Cup 2023: Ranking teams based on their final squad

5. Afghanistan

Afghanistan is in Group B in the Asia Cup and will start its campaign against Bangladesh on September 3 in Lahore. Their squad for the Asia Cup 2023 also threw up some surprises as the selectors recalled Rahmat Shah and Karim Janat, who are not regulars in the ODI squad. Rahmat Shah last played an ODI 2 years ago and Janat played his only ODI in 2017. 

Of the squad that took part in the three-match ODI series against Pakistan, Wafadar Momand, Azmatullah Omarzai, Fareed Ahmad, and Shahidullah missed the cut for the Asia Cup. 

Najibullah Zadran, who missed the Pakistan series due to injury returned. Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead the side which has the usual suspects Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran at the top of the order. There are plenty of spin options in Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Sharafuddin, and Noor Ahmad.

The Afghanistan squad gives the feeling that the selectors went back to experienced players over youngsters to have the security of them performing in pressure situations. Possibly the 3-0 whitewash against Pakistan also pushed them to bring back some known names. Their batting looks a bit inferior when compared to the others in the list. 

Afghanistan Asia Cup squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Rashid Khan, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Suliman Safi, Fazalhaq Farooqi.