The Afghanistan Cricket Board has named a 15-player AfghanAbdalyan squad for the cricket competition at the 20th Asian Games, with Darwish Rasooli appointed captain.
The cricket event is scheduled to run from September 24 to October 3 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. The board said the match fixtures would be announced separately and did not identify Afghanistan’s opponents in its squad announcement.
Experienced international players Najibullah Zadran and Karim Janat are included alongside a group drawn largely from the 2026 Shpageeza Cricket League.
Top-order batter Mohammad Akram earned selection after scoring 339 runs in eight Shpageeza innings, including one century and two half-centuries. All-rounder Ismat Alam was also selected after making 294 runs and taking nine wickets, performances that earned him the tournament’s player-of-the-tournament award.
The complete squad is: Darwish Rasooli (captain), Mohammad Ishaq (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Akram, Hassan Eisakhil, Khalid Taniwal, Imran Mir, Faisal Khan Shinozada, Najibullah Zadran, Farmanullah Safi, Ismat Alam, Karim Janat, Nangyal Kharoti, Arab Gul Momand, Faridoon Dawoodzai and Abdullah Ahmadzai.
The ACB announced the selection on August 17. Afghanistan will enter the Asian Games cricket competition under the AfghanAbdalyan name.
