Afghanistan announce 17-man squad for Asia Cup 2023

Afghanistan Cricket Board has announced a 17-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2023 on Sunday, August 27. Hashmatullah Shahidi will continue as the captain for the tournament despite a deflating series loss against Pakistan under his regime.

The selectors have dropped Fareed Ahmed Malik and Shahidullah Kamal and replaced them with Sharafuddin Ashraf and Karim Janat. While Fareed picked up two wickets in the one game he got to bowl in the series against Pakistan, he still faced the axe. Shahidullah, who scored 38 runs across two innings, failed to impress the selectors and has been dropped.

Karim is making a comeback into the Afghan side after almost six years, while Sharafuddin returned to the squad after more than a year in the wilderness.

Afghanistan's Asia Cup squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Riaz Hassan, Ikram Alikhel, Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem Safi

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Pakistan clean sweep Afghanistan in the 3-match ODI series ahead of Asia Cup 2023

Neighboring countries Pakistan and Afghanistan squared off in a three-match ODI series in Sri Lanka ahead of the Asia Cup. Pakistan registered a clinical win in the first ODI. Naseem Shah's last-over batting heroics helped Pakistan seal the series with a narrow win in the second ODI.

After taking an unassailable lead in the two games in Hambantota, Pakistan finished the whitewash with a 59-run victory in the third ODI in Colombo on Saturday. Reflecting on the series loss after the final ODI, Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi said:

"It was tough conditions to bat on especially compared to Hambantota and we ended up making mistakes. We've had a lot of learnings and we've have been learning from our mistakes. We know that we will be facing the similar teams in Asia cup and World cup and it has been our spinners who have done a great job for us. Our middle order needs to contribute and we lost three big players in that position due to injury."

Asia Cup 2023 commences on August 30 in Multan.