The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Tuesday announced the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024 which will be played in the United States and West Indies from June 1.
The 15-member squad included the likes of Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, and Ibrahim Zadran who are considered the important pillars of the Afghan team in T20I cricket.
Rashid will lead the squad as the Afghans will eye their first-ever ICC trophy for one more time. Their most recent run in an ICC tournament, which was the 2023 World Cup, saw them finishing sixth in the points table, their highest finish in tournament's history.
With high spirits, the Afghan side will take the ground once again with the hopes of going all the way to lifting the trophy. They have experienced players of the shorter format who can make a difference on their day.
Afghanistan Squad for T20 World Cup:
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Azmatullah Omarzai, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Ishaq, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Karim Janat, Rashid Khan (c), Nangyal Kharoti, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Fareed Ahmad Malik
Reserves: Sediq Atal, Hazratullah Zazai, Saleem Safi
Following their remarkable run in the World Cup 2023, it would be interesting to see how far this Afghan side will go as they are in one of the toughest groups of the mega event with hosts West Indies and an experienced New Zealand side.
It is worth mentioning that 20 qualifying teams are divided into four groups of five, from which the top two teams of every group will make their way to the Super 8 round.
In that stage, qualifying teams will once again be divided into two groups of four, from which the top two teams will make their way to the semi-final and then the winners will play the final on June 29.
Groups for T20 World Cup 2024
Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, United States
Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman
Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea
Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal