Sport
World Cup 2023: Afghanistan announces 15-member squad
The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Wednesday announced a 15-member squad for the ICC World Cup 2023 to be played in India in October-November.
Hashmatullah Shahidi will captain the team, that also includes three reserve players including senior allrounder Gulbadin Naib, Sharafudin Ashraf, and Farid Ahmad Malik.
Azmatullah Omarzai returns from an injury that sidelined him from the Asia Cup while Naveen ul-Haq, who last played a List A game in 2021, also comes back into the squad.
Naveen has played only seven ODIs till date, taking 14 wickets at an average of 25.42.
Gulbadin Naib, meanwhile, shone on his ODI comeback in the Pakistan series with the wickets of the openers and then on Tuesday, took a four-wicket haul against Sri Lanka, but finds himself out of the squad.
The rest of the squad has a familiar look with the spin department stocked with some outstanding talent. Aside from senior spinners Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, the squad also features Mujeeb ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad.
The pace attack is bolstered by the return of Naveen, and also has Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman and Omarzai.
Afghanistan World Cup squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Ikram Alikhil, Azmatullah Omarzai, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Abdul Rahman, Naveen ul Haq.
Afghanistan will open its World Cup campaign against Bangladesh in Dharamsala on October 7.
Majid Mortezaei, head coach of the country’s national futsal team, says Asia must believe that there is still a power called “Afghanistan” in futsal.
In a press conference on Saturday ahead of Afghanistan match against Kyrgyzstan, Mortezaei said the national team will do its best to go to the World Cup.
“Tomorrow, we will do our best to go to the World Cup. If it doesn’t happen, nothing will decrease from our values, because we have done many great things so far,” he said.
“Kyrgyzstan is a good team. They won against Japan. We have the experience of facing them in CAFA, but this Kyrgyzstan team is a different team,” he added.
According to Mortezaei, Afghan players have done intensive training and know how to play in difficult and sensitive conditions.
It should be noted that Afghan futsal team won 5-3 against Iraq on Friday.
The Kyrgyz team has also reached this stage of the competition by winning against Vietnam.
Afghanistan has a chance to advance to the Futsal World Cup 2024 by winning against Kyrgyzstan tomorrow (Sunday, April 28th).
Khurasan Faryab FC was thrashed 5-0 by Attack Energy FC in the 13th match of Afghanistan Champions League (ACL) in Kabul on Friday. In this match, a Nigerian football player for Attack Energy was named man of the match.
In the 14th match of today’s ACL, Abu Muslim Farah FC beat Aino Mina FC 2-1. Nematullah Karimi and Sohrab Afghan scored two goals in this game.
Tomorrow’s matches will see Sarsabz Yashlar FC take on Mawj Sahil FC at 1:00 PM, while Sorkh Poshan Khafi face Maiwand FC at 3:30 PM.
The matches are broadcast live on Ariana Television every day.
Afghanistan defeated Iraq 5-3 on Friday and moved closer to the 2024 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualification.
Afghanistan’s goals were scored by Akbar Kazemi (1), Farzad Mahmoodi (1), Mehran Ghulami (1), and Jawad Safari (2).
In the other match of playoff in Thailand on Friday, Kyrgyzstan beat Vietnam 3-2.
Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan will face off for a spot at the Futsal World Cup on Sunday at the Playoff final.
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