Afghanistan announces squads for the upcoming white-ball tour of Zimbabwe

Afghanistan, on Tuesday, announced their limited-overs squads for the forthcoming Zimbabwe tour, starting in the first week of June.

Afghanistan and Zimbabwe will first meet in the ODI series that will be followed by the T20I fixtures. The ODI leg will be part of the World Cup Super League, where Afghanistan are currently at No. 5 with seven wins in nine games, whereas Zimbabwe are in 12th position with three wins in 12 matches.

Senior all-rounder Gulbadin Naib has been dropped from the ODI squad due to his poor run of form in the format, with the highest score of 36 in seven innings since the beginning of 2021. Naib, who captained the side in the 2019 World Cup, last played the ODI series against Bangladesh in February-March, where he took three wickets.

Naib has been replaced with left-arm spinner Zia ur Rahman Akbar, who had a fruitful time in the domestic One-Day Cup, where he picked up 14 wickets at an average of 12. Similarly, star spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman will be part of the ODIs but not the T20Is because of his commitments in the T20 Blast, where he will represent Middlesex.

Hashmatullah Shahidi will be leading the ODI side, with Rahmat Shah as his deputy. When it comes to the T20 team, senior all-rounder Mohammad Nabi will be captaining the unit with Najibullah Zadran as the vice-captain.

Here are Afghanistan’s squads:

• ODI Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmat Shah (vc), 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
• T20I squad: Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran (vc), Afsar Zazai, Azmatullah Omarzai, Darwish Rasooli, Farid Ahmad Malik, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Hazratullah Zazai, Ihsanullah Janat, Karim Janat, Nijat Masoud, Noor Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rashid Khan, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Usman Ghani