- Captain: Gulbadin Naib.
- Coach: Phil Simmons.
- 2015 WC Result: Group stage.
- Best Result: Group stage in 2015.
- Ignored for squad: Karim Janat, Sayed Shirzad, Ikram Ali Khil.
AFGHANISTAN
From the brink of elimination, Afghanistan fought hard to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Winning the World Cup Qualifiers helped them secure a place in the top 10 teams. With the win in the last warm up game against Pakistan they have made their intentions pretty clear that they should not be considered as underdogs. Just few weeks before the World Cup Asghar Afghan was relieved from his position as captain owing to clashes over selection policy and Gulbadin Naib was made to lead the side.
Definitely, this team can’t be taken for granted. We all know how a side like Kenya managed to cross all boundaries of glory when they reached the semi-final of the CWC 2003. Mind you, Afghanistan is a much more capable team than Kenya. The first ever CWC took place in 1975 and the champions of the first two editions was West Indies, a team that has been beaten twice by Afghanistan in both of their last couple of encounters. I’m sure Afghanistan will cause a few tremors at this tournament.
Just last year, they tied against India and beat Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup. The main heroes in the Afghani camp will undoubtedly be Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, both of who have experience playing all across the world. They are also fresh off stints at IPL 2019, while Rashid picking 17 wickets and Nabi picking 8 wickets to go with 115 runs in the tournament.
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Let’s not forget that they had a couple of warm-up games at the CWC 2019 which saw them losing to England but triumphing over Pakistan, the latter having won the Champions Trophy here just a couple of years back. Nabi picked 4 wickets in those 2 warm-ups. The top order will be of vital importance to this team, especially the young and talented Rahmat Shah and the former captain Asghar Afghan. Shah is coming into this tournament with some great form including 98, 76 in the test vs Ireland and a century vs Scotland.
On the other hand, a couple of months back, Afghan was equalling major international records when he hit five consecutive 50+ scores in ODIs. However, they have a couple of issues including the fact that they have may packed their team with more batsmen than bowlers. Also, Mujeeb Rahman the ‘mystery spinner’ has gone wicketless in his last 5 professional games including just a single wicket in his last 7 games. Wicket-keeper batsman and opener Mohammad Shahzad is also in doubt with a knee injury.
Afghanistan Squad for ICC 2019 World Cup:
Gulbadin Naib (C), Aftab Alam, Asghar Afghan, Dawlat Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hamid Hassan, Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad, Mujeeb Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Rashid Khan, Rahmat Shah, Samiullah Shinwari.
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2019 World Cup Betting?
Fancy Afghanistan at the 2019 World Cup?
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— Read Scoops (@ReadScoops) May 29, 2019
Captain Gulbadin Naib will have an important role to play as an all-rounder, reminding me much of Hardik Pandya of India, with slightly less swag. He’s a big hitter while he recently also picked up a 6-fer against Ireland. Pacer Hamid Hassan is back in the team after a gap of three years and he will be one to watch out for. Keep following ReadScoops.com to know Afghanistan’s progress at the 2019 World Cup.
