Follow UsAllah Ghazanfar, the man who made headlines ever since making his Afghanistan debut against South Africa in October 2024, found himself featuring in the country’s squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, announced on January 12 (Sunday) by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).
This will be the first Champions Trophy for Afghanistan, who qualified for the event after finishing in the top eight at the ICC ODI World Cup 2023. They will open their account against South Africa on February 21.
Ibrahim Zadran, who suffered a knee injury and missed out on the team’s Zimbabwe tour and much of the action since the team’s one-off Test against New Zealand in Noida, which got cancelled eventually, is also back in the team's squad.
Along with Ghazanfar, another youngster, batter Sediqullah Atal, was also named in the squad after his maiden century against Zimbabwe in the three-match ODI series.
Speaking on the occasion, ACB Chairman Mr. Mirwais Ashraf said, “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 events and their ODI series victories last year will undoubtedly boost their morale and help them deliver an even better campaign this time.”
Afghanistan’s 15-man Squad for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025
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 Players: Darwish Rasooli, Nangyal Kharoti, and Bilal Sami are part of the event reserve pool.