Afgcric.com

India once again disappoints

Karnataka Institute of Cricket has been invited by the Maldives Foreign Ministry to represent India. A board official told maldivescricket.org that the BCCI was unable to send an U-25 team to the tournament due to other commitments. However, as it is a SAARC Summit sideline event, the Maldives government wanted all SAARC member states to be represented in the tournament in some capacity. Maldives Cricket also revealed that Bangladesh Cricket Board had a similar problem due to tour commitments by their national side and A team and the ongoing first class cricket. As such the Maldives government is trying to find a representative team from Bangladesh for the tournament.

Changes into Afghan Squad

Meanwhile a few changes have been made to the tentative Afghan squad we announced last week. The captain Mohammad Nabi couldn't be a part of the team due to his age. Therefore Hamid Hassan will be replacing him as captain and Mohmmad Shahzad fullfilng the duty of Hamid as vice captain. Aslso Asghar Stanikzai and Javed Ahmadi have been let out of the squad for unknown reasons. Instead Rokhan Khan and Najib Tarakai has been called in to replace the former two. Najib Tarakai was also a part of the Afghan Cheetah squad for the Faisal Bank T20 in Pakistan

SAARC T20 Squads

Afghanistan:- Hamid Hassan(captain), M. Shahzad(vc/wk), Mirwais Ashraf, Gulbadin Naib, Samiullah Shinwari, Dawlat Zadran, Nasir Jamal, Najibullah Zadran, Najib Tarakai, Amir Mangal, Fazelullah Niazai, Rokhan and Nawab Khan. Coach: Dawlat Ahmadzai

Bhutan:- Jigme Singye, Kencho Norbu, Susil Sharma Luitel, Thinley Tenzin, Thinley Jamtsho, Sonam Darjey, Nar Bahadur Burathoki Mongar, Sisir Raj Gurung, Nima Gurung, Tandin Wangchuk, Tandin Wangchuk, Manoj Adhikari, Sonam Tobgay, Tashi Yoedzer Tshering, Damber Singh Gurung (Coach), Sonam (Manager)

Nepal:- Paras Khadka (Captain) and Gyanendra Malla (Vice Captain), Sarad Veskwarker, Mahesh Chettri, Anil Mandal, Amrit Bhattarai, Rahul BK, Pradeep Airee, Prithu Baskota, Naresh Budhayer, Binod Bhandari, Krishna Karki, Bhuwan Karki and Avinash Karna.

Pakistan:- Nasir Jamshaid, Awais Zia, Umer Amin (cap), Rameez Aziz, Zain Abbass, Shazeb Hassan, Jamal Anwar, Raza Hasan, Muhammad Tallha, Anwar Ali, Mohamed Rameez, Asad Ali, Usman Qadir, Bismillah Khan. Officials: Sabih Azhar (Coach/Manager), Physio: Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Coach: Yasir Malik

Groups

A: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives

B: India (KIC), Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan

Tentative SAARC T20 Schedule

31 Oct Maldives vs Bhutan / Sri Lanka vs Nepal

1 Nov Afghanistan vs Bangladesh / India (KIC) vs Pakistan

2 Nov Sri Lanka vs India / Maldives vs Afghanistan

3 Nov Nepal vs Pakistan / Bhutan vs Bangladesh

4 Nov Maldives vs Bangladesh / Sri Lanka vs Pakistan

5 Nov Bhutan vs Afghanistan / Nepal vs India

6 Nov Group 1 winners vs Group 2 Runners-up / Group 2 winners vs Group 1 Runners-up