Published on 09:08 PM, September 02, 2018

Afghanistan name Asia Cup squad

The Afghanistan team pose for a photo. File Photo: Afghanistan Cricket Board

Afghanistan named their squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2018 in Dubai, including three fresh faces in the 17-member squad.

Sayed Sherzad, Munir Ahmad and Wafadar are the three uncapped players who will be coming into the side having never played an ODI before. Of them, Wafadar and Sherzad have played Test and Twenty20I cricket respectively, but Ahmad is yet to represent Afghanistan.

Wafadar, the 18-year-old fast bowler who impressed in Afghanistan's maiden Test match earlier this year against India, and Shirzad, a 23-year-old left-arm pacer who has played three T20Is, have been called up to bolster the pace attack.

Afghanistan's strength will, expectedly, remain their spinners – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman are all in the squad.

Ahmad, 22, has a good batting average across formats in domestic cricket – 49.86 in first-class matches and 48.42 in List A games – and he also doubles up as a back-up wicket-keeper for Mohammad Shahzad if needed.

Dawlat Zadran is the only omission from the side that won the One-Day International series in Ireland recently. Zadran did not feature in the playing XI in any of the three ODIs on the tour, where Afghanistan won the ODIs 2-1 to go with their 2-0 win in the T20Is.

 Afghanistan begin their Asia Cup campaign with a match against Sri Lanka on 17 September.

Squad: Asghar Afghan (c), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Ihsanullah Janat, Javed Ahmadi, Rahmat Shah, Hashmat Shahidi, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Najibullah Zadran, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Aftab Alam, Samiullah Shinwari, Munir Ahmad Kakar (wk), Sayed Ahmad Sherzad, Sharafudin Ashraf, Wafadar