Afghanistan World Cup 2023 Squad Breakdown: Which of the 15-men will make the Afghanistan 2023 World Cup XI?
Let’s breakdown Afghanistan’s 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 World Cup 2023 squad is 24.5. Afghanistan’s 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 (23).
- Afghanistan’s preliminary World Cup squad has average ODI match experience of 45 ODIs (669 ODIs among 15 players). Mohammad Nabi (147 ODIs), Rahmat Shah (97), and Rashid Khan (94) 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, 4 all-rounders, and 5 proper bowling options. In total, Afghanistan has 11 bowling options (2 leg spin, 2 off spin, 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, and Noor.
- Afghanistan has 3 left-handed batting options (Shahidi, Zadran, Alikhil) 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 | 23 |
| Rashid Khan | All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/Right Arm Leg Spin) | 25 |
| 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 | 23 |
| Sharafuddin Ashraf* | All-Rounder (Left Arm Spin, Right Hand Bat) | 28 |
| Abdul Rahman | Right Arm Medium Pace | 21 |
| Mohammad Saleem** | Right Arm Fast | 20 |
| Naveen-ul-Haq | Right Arm Fast | 24 |
| Azmatullah Omarzai | All-Rounder (Right Arm Pace) | 23 |
| Fareed Ahmad* | Left Arm Fast | 29 |
*in the reserves
**did not make it into the final World Cup squad
Afghanistan Cricket World Cup 2023 Potential XI
- Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)
- Ibrahim Zadran
- Rahmat Shah
- Hashmatullah Shahidi (C)
- Mohammad Nabi
- Najibullah Zadran
- Azmatullah Omarzai
- Rashid Khan
- Mujeeb ur Rahman
- Fazalhaq Farooqi
- Naveen Ul-Haq/Noor Ahmad
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. He returned for the World Cup.
5 Afghanistan Players Who Were Unlucky to Miss Out
- Fareed Ahmad, Wafadar Momand, Shahidullah, Zahir Khan, Qais Ahmad
1 Surprise Pick for Afghanistan’s World Cup Squad
- Naveen-ul-Haq
Afghanistan World Cup Squad – Complete List of Players
1. Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)
Role: Right Hand Bat/Wicketkeeper
- Matches/Innings: 26/26
- 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 Images2. Ibrahim Zadran
Role: Right Hand Bat
- Matches/Innings: 19/19
- 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 Images3. 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 Images4. Rahmat Shah
Role: All-Rounder (Right Hand Bat/ Right Arm Leg Spin)
- Matches/Innings: 97/93
- 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 Images5. Hashmatullah Shahidi (C)
Role: Left Hand Batter
- Matches/Innings: 64/64
- 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 Images6. Najibullah Zadran
Role: Left Hand Batter
- Matches/Innings: 90/82
- 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 Images7. 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: 23
Embed from Getty Images8. Mohammad Nabi
Role: All-Rounder (Right Arm Off Spin/ Right Hand Bat)
- Matches/Innings: 147/131
- 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 Images9. Rashid Khan
Role: All-Rounder (Right Arm Bat/Right Arm Leg Spin)
- Matches/Innings: 94/89
- 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: 25
Embed from Getty Images10. Mujeeb Ur Rahman
Role: Right Arm Off Spin/Mystery
- Matches/Innings: 66/65
- 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 Images11. 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 Images12. 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 Images13. Fazalhaq Farooqi
Role: Left Arm Fast
- Matches/Innings: 21/21
- 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: 23
Embed from Getty Images14. Azmatullah Omarzai
Role: All-Rounder(Right Arm Fast/Right Hand Bat)
- Matches/Innings: 13/8
- Wickets: 6, Best: 1/17
- 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
- Economy: 4.93
- Runs: 137, Best: 56
Recent ODI Form: 16* & 0/12
Last ODI: August 22, 2023
Age: 23
Embed from Getty Images Embed15. Naveen-ul-Haq
Role: Right Arm Fast
- Matches/Innings: 7/7
- Wickets: 14, Best: 4/42
- 4-fer/5-fer: 1/0
- Economy: 5.78
Last ODI: January 26, 2021
Age: 24
Embed from Getty Images16. Gulbadin Naib*
*in the reserves
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 Images17. Sharafuddin Ashraf*
*in the reserves
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 Images18. Fareed Ahmad*
*in the reserves
Role: Left Arm Fast
- Matches/Innings: 15/14
- Wickets: 21
- 4-fer/5-fer: 0/0
- Economy: 5.41
Recent ODI Form: 2/43, 2/61, 0/8, 2/70
Last ODI: August 25, 2023
Age: 29
Embed from Getty Images19. Mohammad Saleem**
**did not make into the final WC squad
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 Images20. Karim Janat**
**did not make into the final World Cup squad
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 ImagesFinal 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?
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) – Afghanistan World Cup 2023 Squad
Raahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Hsmatullah Shahidi (C), Najibullah Zadran, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Ikram Alikhil, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Abudl Rahman, and Mohammad Saleem have been selected for Afghanistan’s 2023 Cricket World Cup preliminary squad.
No, but I expect them to win 3-5 games and end in the Top 6.
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