The ICC World Cup 2019 is all set to commence from May 30 in England and Wales. The Afghanistan Cricket team will be going to feature in their 2nd only ICC World Cup tournament after their group stage exit in the 2015 World Cup.
Gulbadin Naib took over as skipper from Asghar Afghan, much to the dismay of senior pros Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi among others.
“We realised that we can’t win the World Cup at this moment under Asghar’s captaincy or anyone else who would have been in charge. We made the decision not just thinking about this World Cup, we are thinking about 2023,” chief selector Dawlat Khan Ahmadzai had said.
Afghanistan Cricket Team:
Gulbadin Naib (c), Aftab Alam, Asghar Afghan, Dawlat Zadran, Hamid Hassan, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Hazratullah Zazai, Mohammad Nabi, Mohammad Shahzad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Najibullah Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Rashid Khan, Samiullah Shinwari.
Head coach: Phil Simmons
Track Record:
| ICC World Cup edition | Position |
| 2015 | Group Stage |
Afghanistan’s real strength is bowling, especially spin. Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman and Mohammad Nabi have economy rates of 3.90, 3.74 and 4.25, respectively. Among the batsmen, Mohammad Shahzad is also in a good form.
Their main concern would be the fact that they haven’t played a single official ODI in England. Additionally, there are also some concerns that their middle order may fall easily.
Afghanistan are the worst ranked team among all the teams featuring in ICC World Cup 2019. Afghanistan are currently at the 10th place in ICC Rankings.
Afghanistan will face the defending champions Australia in their opening World Cup 2019 fixture on June 1.
With all 10 teams at the World Cup part of the round-robin group stage, each team will play a total of nine matches before the knockout stages, starting July 9. The top four teams will qualify for the knockouts.
The 2019 World Cup will be held between May 30 and July 14 and 48 matches will be played across 11 venues. The first match will take place at the Kennington Oval in London, between England and South Africa.
