AFG vs NED | Mohammad Nabi rules himself out for ODIs, four uncapped players included in Afghanistan squad
Mohammad Nabi has ruled himself out and Naveen-ul-Haq will also miss the three match ODI series between Afghanistan and Netherlands starting from January 21 in Doha. Four uncapped players namely Riaz Hassan, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Shahidullah Kamal are included in the squad.
Afghanistan are set to play against Netherlands in a three match ODI series starting from January 21. The team will miss services of Mohammad Nabi as he has ruled himself out for the series. Nabi said that he wanted to clear the path for younger players to get international experience which will be beneficial for them in the future.
Naveen-ul-Haq is also not a part of the squad as opted to take a break from ODIs and wanted to focus on T20Is to prepare for the T20 World Cup scheduled to be played in Australia this year. The squad includes four uncapped players and they will get some international experience from the series.
Riaz Hassan and Mohammad Saleem Safi - a batter and right-arm quick, respectively, have earned a chance for the series. Hassan has 358 runs from 6 List A matches while Safi has picked 21 wickets from 12 List A matches with his pace. Fazalhaq Farooqi has played one T20I and has now earned a maiden call-up for ODIs. Shahidullah Kamal is another name in the list of uncapped players and he has played one Test fixture.
Afghanistan has also recalled seam bowling all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai who has played a single ODI. The squad will be led by Hashmatullah Shahidi and includes a lot of experienced players in the team. The three ODIs will be played on January 21, 23 and 25 in Qatar.
Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), Azmatullah Omarzai, Farid Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Gulbadin Naib, Ikram Alikhail, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Qais Ahmad, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Rashid Khan, Riaz Hassan, Mohammad Saleem Safi, Shahidullah Kamal, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Usman Ghani, Yamin Ahmadzai.