Afghanistan Asia Cup 2023 Squad Breakdown: Which of the 17-men will make the Afghanistan 2023 World Cup Squad?

Let’s breakdown Afghanistan’s Asia Cup 2023 squad, which is basically Afghanistan’s 17-member preliminary World Cup 2023 squad.

Here is a quick preview: Afghanistan are going with possibly the youngest squad of the 2023 ODI World Cup.

Let’s dive right in.

Key Takeaways from Afghanistan’s ODI Squad Announcement

• The average age of Afghanistan Asis Cup 2023 squad is 24.8. Afghanistan’s 17-men preliminary squad includes experienced campaigners like Mohammad Nabi (38) & Rahmat Shah (30) along with the young crop – Noor Ahmad (18), Saleem (20), Gurbaz, Zadran, Abdul Rahman (21), and Alikhil, Farooqi (22).
• Afghanistan’s preliminary World Cup squad has average ODI match experience of 42.8 ODIs. Mohammad Nabi (145 ODIs), Rahmat Shah (95), and Rashid Khan (92) have the most ODI experience for Afghanistan, while the likes of Karim Janat (1), Mohammad Saleem (2), Ibrahim Alikhil (3), Abdul Rahman (3) and Riaz Hassan (5) are the new faces.
• Afghanistan’s squad composition is as follows: 6 proper batters, 6 all-rounders, and 5 proper bowling options. In total, Afghanistan has 11 bowling options (2 leg spin, 2 off spin, 1 left arm orthodox, 1 left arm wrist spin, 1 left arm pace, and 5 right arm pace) in their squad if absolutely needed. Imagine a bowling line up of Farooqi, Rashid Khan, Nabi, Mujeeb, Noor, and Naib.
• Afghanistan has 3 left-handed batting options and two wicketkeeping options.

Afghanistan Cricket World Cup Team at a Glance

Player	Role	Age
Rahmanullah Gurbaz	Right Hand Bat/Wicketkeeper	21
Ibrahim Zadran	Right Hand Bat	21
Riaz Hassan	Right Hand Bat	20
Rahmat Shah	All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Leg Spin)	30
Hashmatullah Shahidi	Left Hand Batter	28
Najibullah Zadran	Left Hand Batter	30
Gulbadin Naib	All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Medium Pace)	32
Karim Janat	All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Medium Pace)	25
Ikram Alikhil	Left Hand Bat/Wicketkeeper	22
Rashid Khan	All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Leg Spin)	24
Mohammad Nabi	All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Off Spin)	38
Mujeeb Ur Rahman	Right Arm Off Spin/Mystery	22
Noor Ahmad	Left Arm Wrist Spin	18
Fazalhaq Farooqi	Left Arm Fast	22
Sharafuddin Ashraf	All-Rounder (Left Arm Spin, Right Hand Bat)	28
Abdul Rahman	Right Arm Medium Pace	21
Mohammad Saleem	Right Arm Fast	20

Afghanistan Cricket World Cup 2023 Potential XI

1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)
2. Ibrahim Zadran
3. Rahmat Shah
4. Hashmatullah Shahidi (C)
5. Mohammad Nabi
6. Najibullah Zadran
7. Gulbadin Naib
8. Rashid Khan
9. Mujeeb ur Rahman
10. Fazalhaq Farooqi

Injury News

• Omarzai missed the final match of the Pakistan series due to a side strain and has since been left out of the Asia Cup squad.

7 Afghanistan Players Who Were Unlucky to Miss Out

• Naveen-ul-Haq, Fareed Ahmad, Wafadar Momand, Azmatullah Omarzai, Shahidullah, Zahir Khan, Qais Ahmad

2 Surprise Picks for Afghanistan’s World Cup Squad

• Karim Janat, Sharafuddin Ashraf

Afghanistan Asia Cup Squad – Complete List of Players

1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)

Role: Right Hand Bat/Wicketkeeper

• Matches/Innings: 24/24
• Runs: 953, Best: 151
• Average/SR: 41.43/85.93
• 100/50: 5/2

Recent ODI Form: 145, 6, 18, 151, 5

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 21

Embed from Getty Images

2. Ibrahim Zadran

Role: Right Hand Bat

• Matches/Innings: 17/17
• Runs: 829, Best: 162
• Average/SR: 55.26/83.56
• 100/50: 4/3

Recent ODI Form: 100,1,0,80,0

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 21

Embed from Getty Images

3. Riaz Hassan

Role: Right Hand Bat

• Matches/Innings: 5/4
• Runs: 120, Best: 50
• Average/SR: 30.00/62.50
• 100/50: 0/1

Recent ODI Form: 50, 1, 35, DNB, 34

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 20

Embed from Getty Images

4. Rahmat Shah

Role: All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/ Right Arm Leg Spin)

• Matches/Innings: 95/91
• Runs: 3191, Best: 114
• Average/SR: 36.26/70.44
• 100/50: 5/23

Recent ODI Form: 7,8,2,0,0

Last ODI: August 22, 2023

Age: 30

Embed from Getty Images

5. Hashmatullah Shahidi (C)

Role: Left Hand Batter

• Matches/Innings: 62/62
• Runs: 1665, Best: 97*
• Average/SR: 31.41/65.91
• 100/50: 0/14

Recent ODI Form: 2, 22, 0, 15*, 13

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 28

Embed from Getty Images

6. Najibullah Zadran

Role: Left Hand Batter

• Matches/Innings: 88/80
• Runs: 2013, Best: 104*
• Average/SR: 30.04/89.42
• 100/50: 1/15

Recent ODI Form: 2, 10, DNB, 10, 10

Last ODI: July 11, 2023

Age: 30

Embed from Getty Images

7. Gulbadin Naib

Role: All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Fast)

• Matches/Innings: 77/66
• Runs: 1170, Best: 82*
• Average/SR: 20.17/73.30
• 100/50: 0/5
• Wickets: 67, Best: 6/43
• 4-fer/5-fer: 2/1
• Economy: 5.4

Recent ODI Form: 0/25, 3/34, 0/48, 1/19, 2/36 & 22, 6, 8, 20, 0

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 32

Embed from Getty Images

8. Karim Janat

Role: All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Fast)

• Matches/Innings: 1/1
• Runs: 9, Best: 9
• Average/SR: 9.00/27.27
• 100/50: 0/0
• Wickets: 0
• 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
• Economy: 7.75

Recent ODI Form: 9 & 0/31

Last ODI: February 24, 2017

Age: 25

Embed from Getty Images

9. Ikram Alikhil

Role: Left Hand Bat/Wicketkeeper

• Matches/Innings: 14/13
• Runs: 238, Best: 86
• Average/SR: 23.8/60.25
• 100/50: 0/2

Recent ODI Form: 86, 58, 19, 9, 4

Last ODI: August 24, 2023

Age: 22

Embed from Getty Images

10. Mohammad Nabi

Role: All-Rounder (Right Arm Off Spin/ Right Hand Bat)

• Matches/Innings: 145/129
• Runs: 3085, Best: 116
• Average/SR: 27.06/85.19
• 100/50: 1/15
• Wickets: 154, Best: 4/30
• 4-fer/5-fer: 4/0
• Economy: 4.29

Recent ODI Form: 1/29, 1/7, 2/34, 2/46, 0/18 & 25, 1, 7, 29, 3

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 38

Embed from Getty Images

11. Rashid Khan

Role: All-Rounder (Right Arm Bat/Right Arm Leg Spin)

• Matches/Innings: 92/87
• Runs: 1160, Best: 60*
• Average/SR: 19.01/104.69
• 100/50: 0/5
• Wickets: 170, Best: 7/18
• 4-fer/5-fer: 6/4
• Economy: 4.15

Recent ODI Form: 2/21, 2/28, 2/42, 0/53, 1/42 & 2, DNB, 6, 0, 2, 16

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 24

Embed from Getty Images

12. Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Role: Right Arm Off Spin/Mystery

• Matches/Innings: 64/63
• Wickets: 91, Best: 5/50
• 4-fer/5-fer: 3/1
• Economy: 4.08

Recent ODI Form: 3/40, 0/34, 3/33, 1/45, 1/50

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 22

Embed from Getty Images

13. Noor Ahmad

Role: Left Arm Wrist Spin

• Matches/Innings: 3/3
• Wickets: 2, Best: 1/54
• 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
• Economy: 7.42

Recent ODI Form: 0/32, 1/54, 1/70

Last ODI: June 4, 2023

Age: 18

Embed from Getty Images

14. Abdul Rahman

Role: Right Arm Medium Pace

• Matches/Innings: 3/3
• Wickets: 1, Best: 1/83
• 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
• Economy: 7.67

Recent ODI Form: 0/27, 0/23, 1/83

Last ODI: August 24, 2023

Age: 21

Embed from Getty Images

15. Fazalhaq Farooqi

Role: Left Arm Fast

• Matches/Innings: 19/19
• Wickets: 32, Best: 4/49
• 4-fer/5-fer: 2/0
• Economy: 5.34

Recent ODI Form: 3/24, 3/22, 2/26, 1/51, 3/69, 1/45

Last ODI: August 26, 2023

Age: 22

Embed from Getty Images

16. Sharafuddin Ashraf

Role: All-Rounder (Left Arm Spin/Right Hand Bat)

• Matches/Innings: 19/11
• Wickets: 13, Best: 3/29
• 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
• Economy: 4.28
• Runs: 66, Best: 21

Recent ODI Form: 0/50, 1/37, 1/57, 0/23, 0/23

Last ODI: January 23, 2022

Age: 28

Embed from Getty Images

17. Mohammad Saleem

Role: Right Arm Fast

• Matches/Innings: 2/2
• Wickets: 0
• 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
• Economy: 6.77

Recent ODI Form: 0/36, 0/34

Last ODI: July 8, 2023

Age: 20

Embed from Getty Images

Final Thoughts on Afghanistan Asia Cup 2023 Squad

Do I expect Afghanistan to win the 2023 ODI World Cup?

No, but I expect a better result than their disastrous 2019 World Cup campaign. They may definitely be the dark horse in the 2023 Asia Cup.

What do you think?

Related ODI World Cup Articles

Check out our 2023 World Cup content library here.

If you liked this article, be sure to check some of the other World Cup content:

• 2023 Cricket World Cup South Africa Squad Breakdown (The Definitive Guide): Which 15 players will make the final squad from the Preliminary Squad of 18?
• ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 Schedule (Complete Guide): What is the Schedule of Each Team for the 2023 ODI World Cup?
• Pakistan Asia Cup 2023 Squad Breakdown: Which of these 18-men will make the Pakistan 2023 Cricket World Cup Squad?
• Bangladesh Asia Cup 2023 Squad Breakdown: Which of the 19-men Squad will make the Bangladesh 2023 World Cup Squad?
• India Asia Cup 2023 Squad Breakdown: Which of these 18-men will make the India 2023 Cricket World Cup Squad?
• 2023 Cricket World Cup England Squad (The Definitive Guide): Can England Continue their ODI Legacy?
• 2023 Cricket World Cup Australia Squad Breakdown (The Definitive Guide): Which 15 players will make the final squad from the Preliminary Squad of 18?
• Who Has Scored the Most Runs in ODI Cricket World Cups (Men’s)?| List of Top 21 Most Runs in Cricket World Cup (Updated 2023)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – Afghanistan Asia Cup 2023 Squad

© Copyright @Nitesh Mathur and Broken Cricket Dreams, LLC 2023. Originally published on 08/27/2023. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Broken Cricket Dreams with appropriate and specific direction to the original content (i.e. linked to the exact post/article).