Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced a 15-member squad on Wednesday for the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023, which will be played in India from October 5 to November 19.
Pace bowler Naveen-ul-Haq has been recalled for the mega-event after a two-year hiatus from ODI cricket. He has played only seven ODIs since making his debut in 2016, taking 14 wickets at an average of 25.42.
Pace bowler Mohammad Saleem Safi, along with all-rounder Karim Janat who was called up for Asia Cup 2023 after a six-year gap from ODI cricket has been dropped from the squad, while Gulbadin Naib, despite a good showing in the Asia Cup 2023 has been selected as a reserve player only.
Naib is joined by Sharafuddin Ashraf and Fareed Ahmad as reserve players in the World Cup.
World Cup Bound AfghanAtalan Squad 🚨
Presenting before you the AfghanAtalan squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India. 🤩#AfghanAtalan | #CWC23 | #WarzaMaidanGata pic.twitter.com/r0SGg3KV8v
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) September 13, 2023
All-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai also returned to the Afghanistan squad after suffering a side strain during the ODI series against Pakistan.
The rest of the squad is unchanged from the Asia Cup 2023 squad, led by Hashmatullah Shahid.
Afghanistan will kick off their World 2023 against Bangladesh on October 7 in Dharamsala. Prior to that, they will play two warm-up matches against South Africa and Sri Lanka on September 29 and October 3 respectively.
Afghanistan World Cup 2023 squad
Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rahmat Shah, Riaz Hassan, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Abdul Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-Ul-Haq
Reserves: Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fareed Ahmad