It rarely happens that an IPL season is going on and there is more discussion about international cricket. The situation of IPL 2024 is similar. There is a reason for this – T20 World Cup 2024 will start just a week after the end of IPL, for which the teams have started being announced and the stars playing IPL have got a place in most of the big teams. Many such players from different teams have got a place in Afghanistan’s World Cup squad, which has been announced. The big thing is that the veteran who was the captain of the team in the ODI World Cup has not even got a place in the team.
The deadline has come for all the teams to send their squads to the ICC for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 starting in West Indies and America from June 2. Every team will have to declare its squad by Wednesday 1st May and the process of announcing the teams has started. After Team India, New Zealand, South Africa and England, Afghanistan also announced the names of its 15 players.
Rashid captain, Shahidi out of the team
Veteran leg spin-all-rounder Rashid Khan, who has been commanding the Afghan team in this format for some time, will be the captain of the team in this World Cup as well. Rashid is going to lead Afghanistan in a World Cup for the first time. While on one hand teams like India, England and New Zealand have retained their captains from the previous ODI World Cup here too, Afghanistan has not done so. Hashmatullah Shahidi, who took the team close to the semi-finals in the tournament held in India last year, has not even got a place in the team, leave alone the captaincy.
8 stars playing in IPL
The special thing is that he is not the only all-rounder in this team, but many spin and pace all-rounders are included in the Afghan team, which includes experienced veterans Mohammad Nabi and Gulbadin Naib to young all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai. 8 such players have been included in this team, who are currently showing their talent in IPL or are associated with some team or the other. Apart from Rashid and Nabi, Omarzai, Noor Ahmed, Gulbadin Naib, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Naveen Ul Haq and Fazalhaq Farooqui are participating in IPL 2024. In this, only Naib, Gurbaz and Farooqui have not got a chance to play even a single match yet.
2 new players also get a chance
The Afghan team has also included 2 new players in the team. In this there is 19 year old Mohammad Ishaq, who will be with the team as wicketkeeper-batsman. Ishaq has played 4 T20 Internationals and scored 75 runs at a strike rate of 141. To give more strength to the spin attack, there is also 20 year old left arm spinner Nangyal Kharote, who has taken 5 wickets in 3 T20 matches. The team already has spinners like Rashid, Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Noor Ahmed.
Afghanistan’s T20 World Cup squad
Rashid Khan (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Ishaq, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Noor Ahmed, Naveen Ul Haq, Fazal Haq Farooqui, Farid Ahmed. Malik
