To play franchise league, Mujib-Qais’s ‘No’ to national team

The Afghanistan cricket team will travel to Zimbabwe next month to play ODI and T20 series. The visitors will play three ODIs and three T20I matches on that tour. The series will start on June 5 with an ODI match at Harare Sports Club in Zimbabwe. Ahead of the tour, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced the squads for the two formats.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Qais Ahmad, two of the brilliant Afghan spinners, will not be in the T20 squad for the upcoming series. Mujeeb will fly to England after finishing the ODI series. The reason being that he will take part in the domestic tournament T20 Blast. So, Mujeeb and Qais cannot make it to T20 series. However, world-renowned leg-spinner Rashid Khan will play in two series with the team. Ihsanullah Janat and Noor Ahamd have been named in the squad to replace Mujeeb and Qais in the T20.

Afghanistan ODI squad:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Rahmat Shah, Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Ibrahim Zadran, Ikram Alikhail, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Riaz Hassan, Shahidullah Kamal, Yamin Ahmadzai, Zia ur Rahman Akbar.

Afghanistan T20 squad:

Mohammad Nabi (captain), Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ihsanullah Janat, Karim Janat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Sharafuddin Ashraf and Usman Ghani.

Standby players: Nijat Masoud and Noor Ahmad.