Afghanistan unveil squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025, Shahidi to lead historic campaign

Afghanistan and Bangladesh, 2nd ODI 2024. (Source – Afghanistan Cricket)

The Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) National Selection Committee today finalized the Afghanistan National Team’s squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to be played from February 19 to March 09 this year in Pakistan and UAE.

Afghanistan’s prolific top-order batter, Ibrahim Zadran, who was away from action due to an ankle injury, has returned to the squad. However, Mujeeb Ur Rahman misses out on the selection, as AM Ghazanfar, a similar mystery spinner, has made the cut for the mega event.

The squad also includes Sediqullah Atal, who recently had an impressive performance in the three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe, earning the Player of the Series title by scoring a total of 156 runs, including a century and a half-century in two games.

“AfghanAtalan have performed exceptionally well in the past two ICC events, the CWC23 and the ICC World T20 2024. Their impressive performances in these two event coupled with their ODI series victories last year will undoubtedly boost their morale and help them deliver an even better campaign this time,” the ACB Chairman Mirwais Ashraf stated.

“The appointment of mentors has proven to be quite beneficial for us in both of the last two events. Given this success, we have appointed Mr. Younis Khan, who has extensive international and local experience, and we look forward to making full use of his expertise during the event,” he further added.

Conditions in Pakistan are similar to Afghanistan and UAE: Chief Selector Khil

Meanwhile, the ACB Interim Chief Selector, Mr. Ahmad Suliman Khil, shed light on the experienced spinner, Mujeeb Ur Rahman. He revealed that the willy experienced Afghan player was not available to play in recent times due to medical reasons. Khil unearthed the fact that Rahman’s doctor had advised him to remain away from the longer formats to ensure proper recovery.

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“Mujeeb Ur Rahman was not available for the selection as he has been advised by his doctor to focus on T20s for a while to ensure his full recovery before returning to ODIs. That was also the reason he missed on the recently concluded ODI series against Zimbabwe,” ACB Interim Chief Selector Mr Ahmad Suliman Khil commented.

“Conditions in Pakistan are similar to those in Afghanistan and the UAE, where we usually play. We will conduct a preparation camp in multiple phases before embarking on our journey for the big event. The expectations are high, and I hope the team will prepare well and deliver some excellent performances, just as they did in the last two World Cups,” he added.

Afghanistan’s Squad for Champions Trophy 2025:

Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.

*Darwish Rasooli, Nangyal Kharoti and Bilal Sami are part of the reserve pool for the event.