Farooqi, Naib, Janat dropped as Afghanistan name squads for Bangladesh series

The Afghanistan national team has named their ODI and T20I squads for the white-ball tour against Bangladesh in the UAE, and a few players that have been included are new faces and there have been players that were omitted from the squad.

Among the players unreleased from the squad are left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi, and the allrounders Gulbadin Naib and Karim Janat. Farooqi has been replaced by Fyaz Ahmad, a tall left-arm seamer at 20 years of age and yet to play at the international level, regardless of having played 14 T20 matches with 12 wickets at a respectable economy rate of 9.06.

Another name added to the squad is the young top-order batter, nephew to the Afghanistan captain, Wafiullah Tarakhil, only available for the T20I squad. He had a strong run in the recent Shpageeza Cricket League, ending as the third highest run-scorer with 298 runs at an average of 37.25 and a strike rate of 155.20 over the course of nine innings.

Abdullah Ahmadzai has been added back into the T20I squad after being included as just a reserve in the Asia Cup and mystery spinner, AM Ghazanfar has been included in the ODI squad, with Rahmat Shah also among those listed as reserves for the T20I series, rather than the ODI series.

Rashid Khan's team relies on its spin depth and new players ahead of the Bangladesh white-ball series in Sharjah and Abu Dhabi 

In regard to the squad refresh, ACB CEO Naseeb Khan said "this refresh is part of Afghanistan preparations towards the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup," and that the team has "a busy season ahead with many T20Is planned." He acknowledged the disappointment of being ousted from the Asia Cup, but is optimistic that AfghanAtalan will "bounce back strong." 

Afghanistan's spin depth is a big asset. Even without Ghazanfar in the main T20I group, they have Rashid Khan, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi available. They will have captain Hashmatullah Shahidi back to join Rashid, Nabi, Ghazanfar and Nangeyalia Kharote for the ODIs and in the conditions of Abu Dhabi, it could be effective to have Ghazanfar and Kharote available. 

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The tour begins with three T20Is in Sharjah on October 2, 3 and 5, then will follow with three ODIs in Abu Dhabi from October 8 to 14. This will complete the second part of a rescheduled all-format engagement between these two teams having Afghanistan won the ODI leg of the engagement in November 2024 by a score of 2-1.

Afghanistan suffered a narrow defeat against Bangladesh by eight runs in their last T20 International during the Asia Cup held in Abu Dhabi, and they will be keen to reverse that outcome this time.

Afghanistan T20I squad: Rashid Khan (capt), Ibrahim Zadran (vice-capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Mohamamad Ishaq (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Wafiullah Tarakhil, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Bashir Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad Malik, Abdullah Ahmadzai.

Reserves: AM Ghazanfar, Rahmat Shah.

Afghanistan ODI squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Rahmat Shah (vice-capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Nangeyalia Kharote, AM Ghazanfar, Abdullah Ahmadzai, Bashir Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem Safi.

Reserves: Bilal Sami, Faridoon Dawoodzai.