Afghanistan takes on Sri Lanka in a three-match T20I series starting off with the first T20I in Dambulla on Saturday, February 17. The match starts at 7 pm IST. All the matches will be played in Dambulla.
Afghanistan are yet to win a single match on this tour. They lost the one-off Test match and then were whitewashed in the three-match ODI series. They are ranked tenth in the ICC T20I rankings heading into this series.
The visitors now have a chance to make a turnaround in the T20I series with a power-packed side at their disposal. The Afghans have won two out of the five T20Is they played against Sri Lanka so far. They have a chance to add to that tally in this series.
Ibrahim Zadran will continue to lead the side as the stand-in skipper. Afghanistan will be without their talismanic spinner Rashid Khan who is their full-time T20I skipper. Rashid is still recovering from his lower back surgery that he underwent after the World Cup.
Despite his absence, Afghanistan have enough depth in their bowling department to challenge Sri Lanka in their own backyard. This is an opportunity for the likes of Qais Ahmad and Noor Ahmad to step up and perform for the nation.
Also Read: SL vs AFG Weather Report Live Today And Pitch Report Of Dambulla Stadium – 1st T20I, 2024
Afghanistan Playing 11 vs Sri Lanka, 1st T20I, 2024
Rahmanullah Gurbaz (WK)
Gurbaz will open the batting for Afghanistan. he scored just 57 runs at an average of 19 in the ODI series. He will need to have a big series if Afghanistan are to beat Sri Lanka.
Ibrahim Zadran
Ibrahim Zadran will open the batting with Gurbaz. The two have been key to Afghanistan’s T20I success and will need to build on that. Zadran scored 71 runs in the ODI series.
Azmatullah Omarzai
Omarzaio had a good ODI series as he scored 206 runs and ended up as the second-highest run-getter in the series. That is he is an all-rounder makes him even more special as a player. He will bat at three.
Najibullah Zadran
The southpaw will slot in at four. He is a very good batter and has already played 100 T20IS for Afghanistan. He is inching closer to 1800 T20I runs. He is five short of 100 T20I sixes.
Gulbadin Naib
Naib can slot in at five. He is another all-rounder in the XI. He has already played 62 T20Is scoring 782 runs and picking up 26 wickets in the format. Naib played his last T20I against India in January 2024.
Mohammad Nabi
The veteran all-rounder will slot in at six. He scored his second ODI ton in the first ODI against Sri Lanka. He has scored 1945 runs and picked up 88 wickets in 114 T20Is.
Karim Janat
Janat is another bowling all-rounder who can bat at seven. He has scored 546 runs and picked up 41 wickets in 56 T20Is. He played his last T20I against India in Bengaluru in January 2024.
Fazalhaq Farooqi
Farooqi will lead the pace attack. He has picked 31 wickets in 29 T20Is for his national side. He did play the ODI series and picked up just one wicket. He will look to have a better performance in the T20I series.
Naveen-ul-Haq
Naveen will be the second seamer in the playing XI. He last played in the T20I series against India. He has already retired from ODI cricket after the ICC World Cup 2023 and is now a specialist T20 bowler.
Noor Ahmad
In the absence of Rashid Khan, Noor is the senior bowler in the side. He recently played for the Durban Super Giants in the SA20. He last played in the T20I series against India.
Qais Ahmad
Qais concludes the likely playing XI for Afghanistan. He has played two Test matches, three ODIs and nine T20Is the last of which was against India.
