Champions Trophy 2025 will start in Pakistan and UAE from next month, for which all 8 countries are announcing their squads one by one. England was the first to present its squad to the world, while Team India will reveal its 15 players in the next few days. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has also announced its squad and all the 15 players selected in it will make their Champions Trophy debut. Yes, although all the players have played international cricket, the Afghan team is going to play in the Champions Trophy for the first time.

Afghanistan in Champions Trophy for the first time

Everyone's eyes will once again be on the Afghan team, which surprised everyone with its brilliant performance in the World Cup 2023 and qualified for the Champions Trophy. Afghanistan's explosive batsmen and spinners will be seen in this tournament being played in Pakistan and UAE. The team already has strong batsmen like Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi, while there are excellent bowlers like Rashid Khan, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Noor Ahmed. Apart from all this, all-rounders like Mohammad Nabi and Azmatullah Omarzai also.

Returning directly from the tournament after injury

The strength of the Afghan team full of such excellent players is going to increase further because the team's star opener Ibrahim Zadran has returned to the team after being fit. Zadran has not played any international match since the T20 World Cup semi-finals last year. In the month of August, Zadran got injured during the domestic T20 tournament, after which he was out of the team. He returned to cricket action only last month from Bangladesh Premier League. Zadran has scored 1440 runs in 33 ODI matches at an excellent average of 48, which includes 5 centuries and 7 half-centuries.

Entry of young spinner also

The command of the Afghan team will once again be in the hands of Hashmatullah Shahidi, who was also the captain of the team in the 2023 World Cup. The most excitement is about 18 year old new spinner Ghazanfar. This young spinner had entered international cricket only last year and as soon as he came, he has troubled the batsmen with his mystery spin. Ghazanfar will participate in any ICC tournament for the first time on behalf of Afghanistan. So far in his 11-match career, Ghazanfar has taken 21 wickets at a tremendous average of 13.57.

Afghanistan squad

Hashmatullah Shahidi (captain), Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sediqullah Atal, Rahmat Shah, Ikram Alikhil, Gulbadin Naib, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Allah Ghazanfar, Noor Ahmed, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Fareed Malik and Naveed Zadran.