Afghanistan announce their 15-man World Cup 2019 squad on 22nd of April
Afghanistan, who continue to be dubbed the dark horse of the tournament, announced their 15-man squad to play in the ICC World Cup 2019 in England and Wales on the 22nd of April. Expat sport takes a look at the players confirmed
Gulbadin Naib will lead the squad, but former captain Asghar Afghan, who was axed as captain earlier in the month, has actually been included in the squad surprisingly along with fast bowler Hamid Hassan, who last played cricket at a senior level in 2017. Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Shahzad and Samiullah Shinwari have also been included in the side.
The Afghanistan World Cup squad: Gulbadin Naib (captain), Mohammad Shahzad (wicketkeeper), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan, Mujeeb ur Rahman.
In an adjunct to the announcement above, three players: Alikhil, Karim Janat and Sayed Shirzad were also named as reserves by the selection committee.
Chief selector Dawlat Khan Ahmadzai commented on the squad selection process in quotes released through the Afghanistan Cricket Board:
“It has been a six-month preparation process for the ICC Cricket World Cup. The mission is to play inspirational cricket in the tournament; I know there are strong teams but we will do our level best to achieve our goals.
“As chief selector, it is my duty to select a competitive team. However, there were some challenges that we needed to handle. We selected the best squad considering factors such as experience, fitness, team balance, current form and conditions.”
Ahmadzai’s comments then moved on to the inclusion of veteran pace bowler Hamid Hassan’s in the squad:
“Luckily for us, the come-back of senior Fast bowler Hamid Hassan is good news. However, we will take into account his form and fitness during upcoming practice matches.”
Without doubt Afghanistan’s greatest strength revolves around their spin-bowling. Nevertheless this is England and Wales and therefore it will be equally important for the seamers to be able to perform on flat tracks, especially on cloudy days when there’s a hint of swing in the air. In Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, and skipper Naib, they have a competent pace attack that complements the slower bowlers.
However, the World Cup is a tournament in which all teams play each other in a round robin format, which means that having a decent depth of seamers in the squad is crucial.
Afghanistan of course enjoy the services of a world class spin bowling attack, a triumvirate made up of Mohammad Nabi, Rashid, and Mujeeb ur Rahman. All three have been in exceptional and adaptable form over the last two years or so, and have captured a veritable mountain of wickets, regardless of the locations in which they have played. More than double the total picked up by the rest of the bowling attack.
The Afghanistan World Cup squad categorised:
Specialist Batsmen: Noor Ali Zadran(right handed bat, 46 ODIs batting average 24.96, highest score 114), Asghar Afghan(right handed bat, 99 ODIs batting average 23.63, highest score 101), Najibullah Zadran(left handed bat, 54 ODIs batting average 28.81, highest score 104), Hazratullah Zazai (left handed bat, 6 ODIs batting average 25.83, highest score 67, Hashmatullah Shahidi (left handed bat, 29 ODIs batting average 32.52, highest score 97)
All-rounders: Gulbadin Naib (captain – right handed bat, 51 ODIs batting average 22.42, highest score 82; right-arm medium 40 wickets, best bowling figures 4 for 27), Samiullah Shinwari (right handed bat, 82 ODIs batting average 29.11, highest score 96; right-arm legbreak 47 wickets, best bowling figures 4 for 31), Rahmat Shah (right handed bat, 57 ODIs batting average 35.04, highest score 114; right-arm legbreak 12 wickets, best bowling figures 5 for 32), Mohammad Nabi (right handed bat,111 ODIs batting average 28.66, highest score 116; right-arm offbreak 118 wickets, best bowling figures 4 for 30) and Mohammad Shahzad (wicketkeeper – right handed bat, 80 ODIs batting average 33.74, highest score 131)
Specialist Bowlers: Rashid Khan (right-arm legbreak 56 ODIs 123 wickets, best bowling figures 7 for 18), Aftab Alam (right-arm fast-medium 21 ODIs 31 wickets, best bowling figures 4 for 25), Mujeeb ur Rahman (right-arm offbreak 28 ODIs 51 wickets, best bowling figures 5 for 50), Dawlat Zadran (right-arm fast-medium 73 ODIs 103 wickets, best bowling figures 4 for 22), Hamid Hassan (right-arm fast 33 ODIs 59 wickets, best bowling figures 5 for 45).
In the final analysis it is likely to be Afghanistan’s outstanding bowling attack that will take them over the line. The current batting line-up only includes three players that average over 30, specialist batsman Hashmatullah Shahidi, all-rounder Rahmat Shah and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad. While most all-rounders hover just below that magic number thirty, three of the specialist batsmen only average 24 to 25 runs.
Afghanistan will commence its ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 campaign against Australia on June 1st at the County Ground Bristol.
Expat Sport’s Mac McTiernan analyses the recently announced Afghanistan World Cup squad for strengths and weaknesses.
