Rahmat Shah leads Afghanistan in five-match ODI series against Ireland

From the three-match series they played against India in June, and lost 3-0, they have moved Fareed Malik and Bilal Sami to the reserves bench. Veteran allrounder Mohammad Nabi, part of the India series, is not travelling either: he is instead participating for Guyana Amazon Warriors in the Global Super League in Guyana, which ends on August 2.

Ahmadzai and Farooqi last played 50-over cricket for Afghanistan in November 2022 and February 2025 respectively. Farooqi and has been keeping his levels up with a stint in the ongoing Lanka Premier League. He has picked up five wickets in two matches for Dambulla Sixers.

This will also be Hashmatullah Shahidi’s first series back as a regular player in the team, having resigned as captain after he led Afghanistan in 55 ODIs from January 2022 till the end of the India series last month. On the other hand, the 33-year-old Rahmat will be leading this team for the first time, having been Afghanistan’s vice-captain in Tests and ODIs since 2021. He is also their leading run-getter in ODIs, with 4121 runs at an average of 35.22.

Afghanistan begin their series against Ireland in Bready with the first two ODIs on August 5 and 7, before moving on to Belfast for the remaining three games on August 10, 12 and 15.

Afghanistan’s squad for five-match ODI series vs Ireland

Rahmat Shah (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (vc, wk), Ibrahim Zadran, Sediqullah Atal, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil (wk), Nangyal Kharotai, Rashid Khan, AM Ghazanfar, Yamin Ahmadzai, Saleem Safi, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi

Reserves: Qais Ahmad, Fareed Malik, Bilal Sami, Bashir Ahmad

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