Afghanistan announce 15-man squad for T20I series against Ireland

The Afghanistan Cricket team is scheduled to face Ireland in a series of three T20I matches to be played in India from March 6 and recently announced the 15-member squad for the said encounters. The whole series will be played at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground in Greater Noida as this has been the home side of the Afghan team for some time now.

Earlier, there was supposed to be a one-off Test match as well on the itinerary, but it was dropped due to financial constraints of the Ireland cricket board, that encounter was dropped.

The two teams already played a Test against one another last year, which was played in India as well and was won by Afghanistan, who recorded their maiden Test win in only their second Test. Since then, they also defeated Bangladesh in their own backyard, while Ireland gave a mighty scare to England at Lord’s in a four-day Test.

Qais Ahmad included in the T20I squad for Ireland series

Asghar Afghan will return as the captain of the Afghanistan team for this series which will be played on March 6, March 8 and March 10, 2020. The last T20I series played by the Afghans was against the West Indies, which was played in Lucknow and was won by the Rashid Khan-led team 2-1, coming back from being 1-0 down.

The recently-announced squad sees leg-spinner Qais Ahmad being given a chance in the national side, after a successful outing in the Big Bash League. He has already made his Test debut, against Bangladesh; picked up 12 wickets in 15 matches for Hobart Hurricanes with best of 4/12 and economy of 8.14. Apart from this inclusion, the remainder of the team is similar to that with some cosmetic changes, that played against the Windies.

Apart from Qais, Shapoor Zadran, Naveen-Ul-Haq, and Azmatullah Omerzai seemed to be picked over Javed Ahmadi and a few more who played in Lucknow the last time.

ACB selection committee today announced Afghanistan’s 15-member squad for the upcoming 3 T20I series against @Irelandcricket which will be played on 6th, 8th and 10th March 2020 at the Greater Noida Ground, India. pic.twitter.com/ehDUse0IiK

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) February 6, 2020

Afghanistan T20I squad for Ireland series: Asghar Afghan (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Hazratullah Zazai, Karim Janat, Najib Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman, Samiullah Shinwari, Usman Ghani, Shapoor Zadran, Qais Ahmad, Naveen-Ul-Haq, Azmatullah Omerzai