IRE vs AFG 2018: Afghanistan announce limited overs squads for the tour of Ireland

Ireland will host Afghanistan for 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is this August.

Ireland will host Afghanistan for 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is this August. (ESPNcricinfo)

Afghanistan Cricket Board(ACB) has announced their limited overs squads for the upcoming tour of Ireland. For a series that will be resuming the rivalry between the game's newest Test countries, Afghanistan will arrive in Ireland in August for a tour, which will feature three T20 Internationals at Bready and three One-Day Internationals at Stormont.

Afghanistan and Ireland last played an ODI against each other in the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year and it was Asghar Stanikzai's men who triumphed then ensuring a place in the 10-team World Cup next year. Not as much at stake, but this series is definitely important for these two sides for a variety of reasons. 

Looking ahead to the Afghan challenge, Graham Ford, the Ireland head coach was quoted saying, “The recent Tri-Series in the Netherlands was a learning experience and opportunity to experiment with the side, while the Indian series was a chance to pit our guys against the world’s best and give them a taste of what we need to aspire to. While I will be looking for lessons learned to be demonstrated on the pitch, we will maintain our ongoing approach of providing opportunities for a wider pool of players to gain experience in international white ball cricket during this series."

“Our horizon in the short-form of the game is the World T20 Cup qualifiers in 2019 - we need to build a competitive squad for that qualification stage and hopefully to propel us into the main tournament in Australia in 2020. The Afghanistan series will be ideal preparation as it provides us with a good level of competitive cricket across a six-match series, and I believe the fans will see a positive reaction from the team after their recent experiences.”

The Afghanistan Cricket Board announced the squad, that will be led by Asghar Stanikzai and includes the prowess of Mohammad Shahzad, Mohammad Nabi and Rashid Khan, over social media network Twitter. 

 

(Inputs from Newsletter.co.uk)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 25 Jul, 2018

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