The Afghanistan Cricket Board on Saturday (January 2) announced a 16-member squad for the three-match series against Ireland, scheduled in Oman later this month.
The three ODIs, which are part of International Cricket Council’s World Cup Super League, was originally scheduled to be played at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. But due to visa issues, the series will now be played in Oman.
While Ireland have already reached Abu Dhabi to prepare for the series, the preparation of the Afghanistan players, who participated at the training camp in Nangarhar, have been less than ideal.
”We could not have a good preparation for the last few days because the weather is not good in Afghanistan as here it is very cold,” Raees Ahmadzai, ACB’s director of cricket, told Cricbuzz when asked about the preparation of the players.
”We tried our best to select the best available squad. The side is very balanced as we included some youngster along with the seniors,” he said.
While some of the leading Afghanistan cricketers are currently playing in the Big Bash, they are expected to join the squad before the beginning of the series.
Afghanistan squad: Asghar Afghan, Rahmat Shah, Nawin-Ul-Haq, Hashmat Shahidi, Yamin Ahmadzai, Osman Ghani, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rahmanullah Gurboz, Sayed Ahmad Shirzad, Najib Zadran, Jawed Ahmadi, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbuddin Naib, Mujib Rahman and Sharafuddin Ashraf
