T20 World Cup 2021: Andy Flower Joins Afghanistan Cricket Team As A Consultant
Former Zimbabwe skipper Andy Flower has been onboarded as a consultant for the Afghanistan cricket team ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup. The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) confirmed the news on October 9, Friday.
The Zimbabwean has prior experience at the international stage having been the head coach of the England cricket team for a period of six years from 2009 to 2014. Under his tenure, England won the T20 World Cup in 2010 which was also their first-ever World Cup victory.
Andy Flower has previously been associated with Multan Sultans in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), St Lucia Zouks in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), and the Kings XI Punjab (now Punjab Kings) in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Afghanistan team departed from Kabul airport to their base in Qatar on October 6. They will reach the UAE and go into quarantine for the mandatory period of three days before starting their training. Mohammad Nabi will be leading the side in the tournament.
The Afghans are relying on their top spinners, Rashid Khan and Mujeeb ur Rahman, who will be favoured on the slow UAE surfaces. They are grouped alongside favourites, India, Pakistan, and New Zealand. The qualifiers will begin on October 17 following which, two more teams will join the above-mentioned group.
Afghanistan squad for T20 World Cup
Rashid Khan, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Hazratullah Zazai, Usman Ghani, Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi (c), Najibullah Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Mohammad Shahzad, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Naveen ul Haq, Hamid Hassan, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Dawlat Zadran, Shapoor Zadran, Qais Ahmed
Reserves: Afsar Zazai, Farid Ahmed Malik.
