Asia Cup 2023: Afghanistan include Karim Janat, Sharafuddin Ashraf in 17-man squad

Afghanistan on Sunday announced their 17-man squad for the upcoming Asia Cup with all-rounders Karim Janat and Sharafuddin Ashraf making their return to the ODI team.

The Afghans announced their squad after the conclusion of the three-match ODI series against Pakistan in Sri Lanka, in which they ended up suffering a clean sweep with a 59-run defeat on Saturday.

Left-arm spinner Ashraf, who has not represented Afghanistan across formats for more than a year now, last featured in an ODI during a three-match series against Netherlands in January last year.

Seam-bowling all-rounder Janat, on the other hand, made his only ODI appearance against Zimbabwe in February 2017, and has not featured in the format in the six-and-a-half years that have passed since.

Janat also has a solitary appearance to his credit in Tests, having made his debut against Bangladesh in June, but is fairly experienced in T20Is where he has made 49 appearances and has scored 508 runs and taken 37 wickets.

As for the side that faced Pakistan in the three ODIs in Sri Lanka, Wafadar Momand and Azmatullah Omarzai are the two players who were left out of the Asia Cup squad.

Shahidi continues to lead the side and is an integral member of the Afghan middle order along with veteran all-rounder Mohammad Nabi and Ikram Alikhil. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran and Rahmat Shah form the top three with Gurbaz and Zadran opening the innings.

Here’s AfghanAtalan’s lineup for the ACC Men’s Asia Cup 2023.