AFG vs PAK 1st T20 Match Prediction

AFG vs PAK Team Previews

Afghanistan

The Afghan team management has named a 17-member team for this series and the outfit will be led as usual by Rashid Khan. It will be his 2nd assignment after the ICC T20 world cup in 2022. Another senior cricketer Mohammad Nabi led the team in another tournament some months ago and he has been asked to participate in the national team again. We might get to see the debut in this series for the tall southpaw Sediqullah Atal. The elegant batter is renowned for his elegant stroke play. Two well-known names that have been excluded from the team are Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmat Shah.

Apart from the above-mentioned names, Zahir Khan and Nijat Masoud have also been kept in the reserve together with Nangyal Kharoti. These players were a part of the recently concluded UAE tour made by Afghanistan. The Afghanistan batting line-up will feature all the usual suspects with Rahmanullah Gurbaz opening the innings and the Zadran brothers coming in the middle order. Their fast-bowling department will be headed again by Fazalhaq Farooqi. The other fast bowling partner for his will be a tossup between Azmatullah Omarzai and Naveen ul-Haq.

After a disastrous campaign in the 2022 T20 world cup where the Afghan team failed to win a single game in the Super 12 stages, they registered a good 2-1 series win over the UAE team. The series was level after the second game but a formidable effort from the entire team saw the Afghanistan outfit emerging victorious in the bilateral series. It was the first series win for the skipper, Rashid Khan, since becoming the full-time captain of the side. The Mohammad Nabi-led team had to endure a couple of losses against Australia and India in the meantime.  

Pakistan

The Pakistan Cricket Board, on the other hand, has announced a 15-member team for this series. The Pakistan team will be led by Shadab Khan who was also in charge of Islamabad United in the PSL or Pakistan Super League competition for the 2023 season. Several star players from Pakistan will miss this tour such as Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Fakhar Zaman. These players have been rested by the management to manage their workloads during the season.

As a result of these omissions, the Pakistan team will feature several youngsters on their side. These players are hand-picked from their domestic circuit. Some of these players include top-order batsman Saim Ayub, the fast bowler Ihsanullah, and the hard-hitting batter Tayyab Tahir. Another member of the squad is Abdullah Shafique who was impressive in the red-ball format of the game. He has been included in the team after a strong performance in PSL 2022 for the side of Lahore Qalandars. 

The Pakistan middle order will be in the hands of batters such as Shadab Khan, Iftikar, and Shan Masood. The fast-bowling department will be led by Naseem Shah. Another player that has been added to the team has been Imad Wasim. Muhammad Nawaz has retained his place on the side. Pakistan had done a much better job with the T20 world cup ending the competition as runners-up. After starting the campaign on a losing note to India they bounced back well to register consecutive victories and beat New Zealand in the semi-finals to reach the final.