Afghanistan have gone for balance and depth in their Asia Cup squad, announcing a 17-member side led by Rashid Khan with six all-rounders packed in for the T20 tournament starting next month in the UAE.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board unveiled the squad in dramatic fashion on Saturday morning, releasing a video on social media that featured banners of players hanging from landmarks across the country — a flourish that has become something of a tradition for the board during major tournaments.

Rashid, the poster boy of Afghan cricket, will once again captain the side. The selectors leaned heavily on multi-skilled players, naming spin all-rounders Mohammad Nabi, Sharafuddin Ashraf and Rashid himself, along with pace-bowling options Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat and Gulbadin Naib.

The spin unit remains Afghanistan’s strongest suit. Mystery spinner Allah Ghazanfar joins regulars Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Noor Ahmad, giving the squad a varied set of options for middle overs.

In contrast, the pace attack looks lighter, with just three specialist quicks — Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Malik.

Expectedly, Rahmanullah Gurbaz will take the gloves, with Mohammad Ishaq as backup. Top-order batter Ibrahim Zadran and middle-order hitter Darwish Rasooli also return, while Hazratullah Zazai and Zubaid Akbari miss out from the group that last played T20s in Zimbabwe in December.

The announcement comes after a long lull in international cricket for Afghanistan. Since featuring in the ICC Champions Trophy in February, they have not played a single T20. However, most of their players have been active in global franchise leagues, including the IPL, PSL, BPL, ILT20 and SA20.

The Asia Cup will be their first assignment of the year in the format, preceded by a tri-series in Sharjah with Pakistan and hosts UAE. Afghanistan open their campaign on September 9 against Hong Kong in Abu Dhabi, before meeting Bangladesh on September 16 and Sri Lanka on September 18 in Group B.

Afghanistan squad: Rashid Khan (captain), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Darwish Rasooli, Sediqullah Atal, Mohammad Nabi, Azmatullah Omarzai, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Mohammad Ishaq (wk), Allah Ghazanfar, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fareed Malik, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, and standby players: Wafiyullah Tarakhil, Nangyal Kharoti, Abdullah Ahmedzai.

Source: UNB