How do they look?
Having accounted for Pakistan and England among the major teams at the 2023 ODI World Cup, followed by a historic run to the semi-finals in the 2024 T20 World Cup - where they beat Australia and New Zealand - Afghanistan enter the Champions Trophy as strong contenders to make the semi-finals. Such a prediction is backed by their recent record in bilateral ODIs (see below) which highlights their rich form.
What's in their favour is the familiarity of the terrain: Afghanistan play all three group matches in Pakistan (Karachi and Lahore) where spin will play a critical role. Despite the back injury that ruled out their mystery spinner AM Ghazanfar, the leading wicket-taker for them since the 2023 World Cup, Afghanistan possess a rich variety and balance of slow bowlers led by the experienced Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi along with the youthful left-arm pairing of Noor Ahmad and Nangeyalia Kharote.
If there is a weakness, it is the middle order (see below) where Afghanistan have dawdled and struggled, which puts pressure on the opening pair of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, their two best batters in the last three years.
Who are their first-round opponents?
Feb 21 - Afghanistan vs South Africa, Karachi
Feb 26 - Afghanistan vs England, Lahore
Feb 28 - Afghanistan vs Australia, Lahore
Best XI
1 Ibrahim Zadran, 2 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 3 Rahmat Shah, 4 Hashmatullah Shahidi (capt), 5 Azmatullah Omarzai, 6 Gulbadin Naib, 7 Mohammad Nabi, 8 Rashid Khan, 9 Noor Ahmad/Nangeyalia Kharote, 10 Naveed Zadran, 11 Fazalhaq Farooqi
Rest of the squad: Sediqullah Atal, Ikram Alikhil, Fareed Ahmad
Players to watch
At 40, Mohammad Nabi, who has said that he will retire from ODIs after this tournament, is the oldest player in the Champions Trophy. Incredibly, since April 2009, when Afghanistan started playing ODIs, Nabi has played all but five of their 175 matches. Having played every role possible for Afghanistan - he was the captain, he is the second-highest wicket-taker and run-scorer, a leading allrounder and mentor to the players - Nabi wouldn't mind signing out on a high.
Like Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, 33, has been a veteran of Afghanistan cricket who started playing for the country from the ICC Division 5 in 2008. An extremely fit allrounder, Naib recently was a key architect in Dubai Capitals winning the ILT20. Among the top-six run-scorers in that tournament, Naib hit the third-highest sixes (19). Such an aggressive mindset could see Naib playing the critical role of the finisher for Afghanistan.
Key stats
Afghanistan have a chronic soft underbelly problem. In the 2023 ODI World Cup, their middle order (Nos. 4-7) scored the least number of runs (849 off 1001 balls) at a weak strike rate of about 85, despite being mid-table in terms of average (40.42). At the 2024 T20 World Cup, their Nos. 3-7 had a combined tally of 360 runs at an average of 12.
Recent ODI form
Since the 2023 World Cup Afghanistan have won four out of their five bilateral series. This included beating South Africa 2-1 in the UAE, which was the first time Afghanistan had got the better of a top-five opponent in the ICC ODI rankings.
Champions Trophy history
Afghanistan have never featured in the tournament before.