Afghanistan squad for T20 Tri-series against Pakistan, UAE announced; 16 Asia Cup players selected

On Wednesday, August 27, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced the squad of the Afghanistan National Cricket Team for the upcoming T20I Tri-series in the UAE.

The Afghanistan National Cricket Team are set to lock horns with the Pakistan National Cricket Team and the UAE National Cricket Team in a T20I Tri-series ahead of the Asia Cup 2025.

Afghanistan selection committee picks 16 of 17 Asia Cup squad members for tri-series

Asia Cup will be played from September 9 to 28 in the UAE, and before that, the Afghans will get a great preparation when they lock horns with the UAE and Pakistan in T20I matches.

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The Tri-series will start with the match between Afghanistan and Pakistan on August 29. Then, UAE vs Pakistan will be held on August 30 before the action moves to September 1, 2, 4, and 5 [Afghanistan vs UAE, Afghanistan vs Pakistan, Pakistan vs UAE, and Afghanistan vs UAE]. All the matches of the series will be played in Sharjah, including the final on September 7.

Meanwhile, the ACB selection committee has named almost identical squads for the Tri-series and Asia Cup 2025, with only a small change.

The star pacer Naveen-ul-Haq has not been named in the T20I squad for the Tri-series despite being picked for the Asia Cup 2025 and has been replaced by Abdollah Ahmadzai, who is one of the standbys for the marquee tournament.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Zadran will make a comeback to the Afghan T20I playing XI for the first time since the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. Also, spinner AM Ghazanfar is in line to make his T20I debut.

Rashid Khan will be leading a star-studded Afghanistan National Cricket Team that also consists of the star players like Rahmamullah Gurbaz, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, and Azmatullah Omarzai.

Afghanistan squad for UAE tri-series

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, Abdollah Ahmadzai, Fazalhaq Farooqi

𝐒𝐐𝐔𝐀𝐃 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐑𝐓! 🚨

Here’s AfghanAtalan’s Squad for the UAE Tri-Nation Series 2025, starting this Friday in Sharjah. 🤩

Happy with our lineup?! ⚡#AfghanAtalan | #UAETriNationSeries | #GloriousNationVictoriousTeam pic.twitter.com/s1vKB4egmV

— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) August 27, 2025

John Mooney named the new New Fielding Coach, Nirmalan Thanabalasingam appointed the New Physiotherapist

Recently, the ACB named former Ireland star John Mooney as the new Fielding Coach and Australian Nirmalan Thanabalasingam as the new Physiotherapist.

Afghanistan players are currently in Abu Dhabi, undergoing a training and preparation camp. John Mooney and Nirmalan Thanabalasingam have also joined the camp.

John Mooney is a former Ireland cricketer who played 91 international matches and holds Level 3, 2, and 1 Coaching Certificates from ECB and previously worked with Afghanistan from 2018 to 2019.

Talking about Nirmalan Thanabalasingam, he worked with Desert Vipers (ILT20), Cricket NSW, Rangpur Riders (BPL), Montreal Tigers (GT20 – Canada), ICC World XI, and Sydney Thunder (BBL).

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