Afghanistan bring in Ghazanfar to strengthen spin department for Asia Cup

Rashid Khan will lead a strong-looking Afghanistan side at the upcoming men's T20 Asia Cup in the UAE, with Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar and Mohammad Nabi completing a formidable spin-bowling attack along with their captain.

Afghanistan, the second-best side from Asia at the last men's T20 World Cup behind champions India, have not played a single T20I since the start of 2025 and no international cricket since the Champions Trophy in February. They have, in fact, played just three T20Is in the last 12 months, against Zimbabwe in Harare in December 2024, in a series they won 2-1. They will play a triangular T20I series in Sharjah against hosts UAE and Pakistan from Friday ahead of the Asia Cup.

From the squad that made the Zimbabwe tour, top-order dasher Hazratullah Zazai and batting allrounder Zubaid Akbari have been dropped, while left-arm spinner Nangeyalia Kharote has been moved to the reserves. Coming in are top-order batter Ibrahim Zadran, allrounder Sharafuddin Ashraf and Ghazanfar, the mystery spinner who hasn't made his T20I debut in his short career so far.

Ghazanfar has so far played 42 T20s since his debut in the format in April 2023. His ODI career - now 11 matches old - has been quite spectacular, though. At just 19, he has two five-wicket hauls already - the 6 for 26 against Bangladesh in Sharjah in November last year his best - and has been doing the rounds of the franchise T20 circuit, including at the IPL, the CPL, and the ILT20. He couldn't make his IPL debut earlier this year though, as he picked up a back injury late last year on the tour of Zimbabwe, after being picked by Mumbai Indians for INR 4.80 crore (US$ 570,000 approx at the time).

He joins Rashid, who had a poor IPL 2025 but was in stellar form for Oval Invincibles at the Hundred before cutting his stint short for national duty, and Nabi, who recently played the Shpageeza Cricket League (Afghanistan's domestic T20 tournament), which ended on July 31 with Nabi's team, Mis Ainak Knights, losing in the final to Amo Sharks, who had among the Asia Cup squad Mohammad Ishaq, Ashraf, Azmatullah Omarzai and Fazalhaq Farooqi in their ranks.

Noor, Chennai Super Kings' star bowler at IPL 2025 and currently in action for Manchester Originals at the Hundred, Mujeeb, who is part of Barbados Royals at the CPL but not always a part of the starting XI, round off Afghanistan's strongest department.

The fast-bowling attack, meanwhile, is headlined by Farooqi and Naveen-ul-Haq, with Omarzai and Gulbadin Naib the fast-bowling allrounders.

Ibrahim's return gives the batting a strong look too, with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Sediqullah Atal the other major top-order options. Darwish Rasooli and batting allrounder Karim Janat are the other top-order contenders.

At the Asia Cup, Afghanistan are with Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka in Group B, while India, Oman, Pakistan and UAE are in Group A. Afghanistan's campaign begins against Hong Kong in the opening match of the tournament, in Abu Dhabi on September 9.

Rashid Khan (capt), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fareed Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Reserve players: Wafiullah Tarakhil, Nangeyalia Kharote, Abdullah Ahmadzai