Afghanistan’s Cricket Board (ACB) has named three new players in an otherwise familiar-looking squad of 17 for the upcoming Asia Cup 2018.
Sayed Sherzad, Munir Ahmad and Wafadar are the new three players in the squad that will make their One-Day International debuts.
Wafadar and Sherzad have played Test cricket and Twenty20 International cricket respectively, but Ahmad is yet to represent Afghanistan.
Wafadar, the 18-year-old fast bowler who impressed in Afghanistan's maiden Test match earlier this year against India, and Shirzad, a 23-year-old left-arm pacer who has played three T20Is, have been called up to bolster the pace attack.
Afghanistan's strength will, expectedly, remain in their spinners – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Zadran who are all in the squad.
Ahmad, 22, has a good batting average across formats in domestic cricket – 49.86 in first-class matches and 48.42 in List A games – and he also doubles up as a back-up wicket-keeper for Mohammad Shahzad if needed.
Dawlat Zadran is the only omission from the side that won the One-Day International series in Ireland recently. Zadran did not feature in the playing XI in any of the three ODIs on the tour, where Afghanistan won the ODIs 2-1 to go with their 2-0 win in the T20Is.
Afghanistan begin their Asia Cup campaign with a match against Sri Lanka on 17 September.