ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Afghanistan squad for CT announced, Mujeeb Ur Rahman axed

On Sunday, January 12, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) officially announced a strong squad of the Afghanistan National Cricket Team for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025.

Team Afghanistan will arrive at the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on the back of their sensational performances in the last two ICC tournaments - the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024.

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Mujeeb Ur Rahman left out of Afghanistan squad

On Sunday, the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s National Selection Committee announced the squad for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy, which will be played from February 19 to March 09 across four venues in Dubai and Pakistan.

Hashmatullah Shahidi will be leading the team in the 8-team competition and Rahmat Shah will be his deputy. Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ikram Alikhil will be the two wicketkeeper-batters in the squad, and star batter Ibrahim Zadran, who was out of action due to an ankle injury, has made his comeback.

Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, and Gulbadin Naib are also present in the team, along with superstar spinner Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, and Noor Ahmad.

However, Mujeeb Ur Rahman has not been included in the 15-man squad. The spinner has been left out because he is yet to recover fully from his injury and has been advised by his doctor to focus on T20s before returning to ODIs. Also, Darwish Rasooli, Nangyal Kharoti, and Bilal Sami have been kept in reserves.

AfghanAtalan have performed exceptionally well in the past two ICC events - ACB Chairman

In an official statement released by the board, the ACB Chairman, Mr. Mirwais Ashraf, stated that they are confident about the team performing well in the marquee tournament following their success in the last two ICC events.

Mirwais was also delighted with the appointment of the legendary Pakistan batsman Younis Khan as the mentor of the team and stated that the Hashmatullah Shahidi-led side would be looking forward to making full use of his expertise. He elaborated:

"AfghanAtalan have performed exceptionally well in the past two ICC events, the CWC23 and the ICC World T20 2024. Their impressive performances in these two event coupled with their ODI series victories last year will undoubtedly boost their morale and help them deliver an even better campaign this time.”

“The appointment of mentors has proven to be quite beneficial for us in both of the last two events. Given this success, we have appointed Mr. Younis Khan, who has extensive international and local experience, and we look forward to making full use of his expertise during the event.”

In the same media release, ACB Interim Chief Selector Mr. Ahmad Suliman Khil spoke about the absence of spinner Mujeeb Ur Rahman and added that the Afghans are used to playing in the conditions that will be on offer in Pakistan and UAE. He added that they have high expectations from Team Afghanistan and were hopeful of the players delivering brilliant performances.

“Mujeeb Ur Rahman was not available for the selection as he has been advised by his doctor to focus on T20s for a while to ensure his full recovery before returning to ODIs. That was also the reason he missed on the recently concluded ODI series against Zimbabwe.”

“Conditions in Pakistan are similar to those in Afghanistan and the UAE, where we usually play. We will conduct a preparation camp in multiple phases before embarking on our journey for the big event. The expectations are high, and I hope the team will prepare well and deliver some excellent performances, just as they did in the last two World Cups," he said.

Here's Afghanistan’s 15-man Squad for ICC Champions Trophy 2025

Squad: Hashmatullah Shahidi (C), Rahmat Shah (VC), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK), Ikram Alikhil (WK), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmad, Fazal Haq Farooqi, Naveed Zadran and Farid Ahmad Malik.

Reserve pool: Darwish Rasooli, Nangyal Kharoti, and Bilal Sami