Asghar Afghan included in 15-man World Cup squad

Afghanistan on Monday, revealed their 15-member squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be played in England and Wales later this year.

Bowler Hamid Hassan, who last played for Afghanistan in 2016, has made a comeback in the team for the quadrennial tournament.

Asghar Afghan, who was axed as captain just days before, was also named in the squad. Afghan on 5 April was sacked as Afghanistan skipper with its cricket board splitting the leadership role across three formats, a move that has not gone down well with senior players Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) removed Asghar from captaincy in all three formats, naming Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid as skippers of Test, ODI and T20 teams respectively.

Afghanistan 15-man squad: Gulbadin Naib (C), Mohammad Shahzad (wk), Noor Ali Zadran, Hazratullah Zazai, Rahmat Shah, Asghar Afghan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Najibullah Zadran, Samiullah Shinwari, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Dawlat Zadran, Aftab Alam, Hamid Hassan and Mujeeb ur Rahman.

Reserves: Ikram Alikhil, Karim Janat and Sayed Shirzad.

Hassan, who last played an ODI back in July 2016 against Ireland, has been troubled by heel, knee and thigh injuries. He has also not appeared in first-class cricket since December 2017 when he played for Band-e-Amir region.

Afghanistan will commence their World Cup campaign against Australia on June 1 in Bristol.

Afghanistan Cricket Board Selection Committee announced Afghanistan’s squad for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

Find out more: https://t.co/3FecMDpRcB#AfghanAtalan #CWC2019 #CWC19 pic.twitter.com/xCSFmXGLJV

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) April 22, 2019