Afghanistan recalled Karim Janat and Sharafuddin Ashraf to their 17-member squad for the 2023 Asia Cup. They will, however, be without fast bowler Naveen-ul-Haq and Azmatullah Omarzai for the tournament, both of whom are injured.

Hashmatullah Shahidi will lead the squad, which will feature all other major names – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Fazalhaq Farooqi, and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Afghanistan are placed in Group B in the first round. They play both their matches the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore under the lights, against Bangladesh on September 3 and against Sri Lanka on September 5.

Two of the three teams will proceed to the Super Four. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been seeded as B1 and B2 respectively; if Afghanistan qualifies ahead of one of them, they would be seeded as B1 and B2 depending on who else makes it from their group.

Afghanistan have played in the Asia Cup thrice before, and finished fourth every time. In the five-nation ODI version in 2014, they beat hosts Bangladesh by 32 runs.

They were placed with the same teams – Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – in 2018 and 2022. In 2018, again an ODI edition, they topped the group after defeating Sri Lanka by 91 runs and Bangladesh by 136 runs. In the Super Four, they tied against India.

In the T20I Asia Cup in 2022, Afghanistan again topped the first round, with an eight-wicket win against Sri Lanka and a seven-wicket win against Bangladesh. In the Super Four, they lost all three matches.

Afghanistan squad for Asia Cup 2023: Full team list and injury news for AFG

Hashmatullah Shahidi (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Ikram Alikhil (wk), Rashid Patel, Mohammad Nabi, Ibrahim Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Riaz Hassan, Rahmat Shah, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Abdul Rahman, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Noor Ahmad, Mohammad Saleem.