Afghanistan's Qais Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq and Waqar Salamkheil set to feature in CPL 2021

Three Afghanistan players have been named in the reshuffled squad lists for the upcoming CPL season: the Jamaica Tallawahs’ Qais Ahmad and the Guyana Amazon Warriors pair of Naveen-ul-Haq and Waqar Salamkheil. Ibrahim Zadran and Shafiqullah Ghafari, who had originally been drafted by the Tallawahs and the Barbados Royals respectively in May, were not part of the final squads.

Afghanistan is in the midst of major upheaval, with the Taliban taking back the political reins following the withdrawal of US troops from the country. It remains to be seen how cricket is affected by these events, though ACB CEO Hamid Shinwari has been quoted saying he expects the sport to carry on as before.

“We will resume our office from tomorrow and the national camp which was underway ahead of the Pakistan series in Sri Lanka will also resume after a two-day break with the change in regime,” Shinwari told PTI on Monday.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Naveen, who was the top wicket-taker in the Vitality Blast in England, is already serving his quarantine in St Kitts, which will host the entire CPL season starting August 26.

The top-tier Afghanistan players – Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Ur Rahman – weren’t part of the initial list. They are expected to be playing for Afghanistan in their three-match ODI series against Pakistan, which is scheduled to take place at Hambantota in early September.

Meanwhile, it is understood that South Africa allrounder Chris Morris, who was the Royals’ first-round pick, has opted out of the tournament for personal reasons. In his place, the Royals have signed the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter Glenn Phillips, who has been in good form in the Vitality Blast as well as in The Hundred. Phillips has been a CPL regular, ever since his Auckland coach, Mark O’Donnell, drafted him as a replacement for Shakib Al Hasan at the Jamaica Tallawahs in 2017. He has been the Tallawahs’ leading scorer for three consecutive seasons.

South Africans Anrich Nortje and Rassie van der Dussen, who were originally drafted by the St Kitts & Nevis Patriots, will miss the tournament, as will Sri Lanka’s legspin-bowling allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga. All three will be involved in South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka, which begins on September 2 and will clash with the CPL.

Saint Lucia Kings, though, have retained Faf du Plessis as their captain. du Plessis had recently been ruled out of the Hundred after failing to recover adequately from the concussion he suffered during the PSL two months ago. It remains to be seen whether he is fit again for the CPL.

Seam-bowling allrounder Isuru Udana is set to turn out for the reigning champions Trinbago Knight Riders, having retired from international cricket following Sri Lanka’s white-ball home series against India. He will be joined by Tim Seifert and Yasir Shah at TKR. Shah, who is currently part of the Pakistan squad in the Caribbean, will replace Sandeep Lamichhane, while Seifert, who was not initially retained at the draft by TKR, is back in for the Zimbabwe allrounder Sikandar Raza. Zimbabwe will tour Ireland for five T20Is and three ODIs from August 27.

The England trio of Ravi Bopara (Patriots), Samit Patel (Kings) and Jake Lintott (Royals) have also won late deals. ESPNcricinfo understands that they will arrive in the Caribbean after playing in the Vitality Blast quarter-finals for their respective counties.

Lintott, the Somerset-born left-arm wristspinner, had not even registered for the Hundred draft nearly two years ago, but is now Southern Brave’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with ten strikes in seven games.

Singapore-born Hobart Hurricanes batter Tim David will replace Matthew Wade at the Kings. David had a breakout PSL and then extended his strong form at Surrey. Netherlands’ Paul van Meekeren, who was recently in action for Durham in the Royal London one-day cup, will fill in for Nortje at the Patriots.

The entire CPL will be hosted by Warner Park from August 26 to September 15. The 33-match tournament will allow fans to attend at up to 50% capacity of the 8,000-seat venue – as long as they show proof of vaccination to enter the stadium facility. Players, support staff, commentators and broadcast crew in the CPL bubble can move directly to the IPL bubble in the UAE.

Squads

Jamaica Tallawahs: Andre Russell, Chris Green, Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell, Haider Ali, Chadwick Walton, Fidel Edwards, Qais Ahmad, Jason Mohammed, Migael Pretorius, Kennar Lewis, Shamarh Brooks, Veerasammy Permaul, Abijhai Mansingh, Joshua James, Kirk McKenzie, Ryan Persaud.

Saint Lucia Kings: Faf du Plessis, Keemo Paul, Wahab Riaz, Tim David, Andre Fletcher, Kesrick Williams, Usman Qadir, Samit Patel, Obed McCoy, Rahkeem Cornwall, Mark Deyal, Roston Chase, Javelle Glen, Keron Cottoy, Jeavor Royal, Kadeem Alleyne, Alzarri Joseph.

Trinbago Knight Riders: Kieron Pollard, Ravi Rampaul, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Yasir Shah, Darren Bravo, Lendl Simmons, Khary Pierre, Isuru Udana, Tim Seifert, Anderson Phillip, Denesh Ramdin, Tion Webster, Akeal Hosein, Jayden Seales, Leonardo Julien, Ali Khan.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots: Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Ravi Bopara, Paul van Meekeren, Sherfane Rutherford, Sheldon Cottrell, Fawad Ahmed, Devon Thomas, Rayad Emrit, Asif Ali, Colin Archibald, Jon-Russ Jaggesar, Dominic Drakes, Joshua Da Silva, Mykile Louis.

Barbados Royals: Glenn Phillips, Jason Holder, Thisara Perera, Mohammad Amir, Johnson Charles, Shai Hope, Oshane Thomas, Kyle Mayers, Hayden Walsh Jr, Azam Khan, Raymon Reifer, Justin Greaves, Ashley Nurse, Jake Lintott, Nyeem Young, Joshua Bishop, Smit Patel.

Guyana Amazon Warriors: Nicholas Pooran, Shoaib Malik, Imran Tahir, Shimron Hetmyer, Mohammad Hafeez, Brandon King, Naveen-ul-Haq, Romario Shepherd, Waqar Salamkheil, Chandrapaul Hemraj, Odean Smith, Nial Smith, Gudakesh Motie, Anthony Bramble, Kevin Sinclair, Ashmead Nedd.

With inputs from Matt Roller

Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

This article was originally published by Espncricinfo.com. Read the original article here.

Afghanistan’s Qais Ahmad, Naveen-ul-Haq and Waqar Salamkheil set to feature in CPL 2021

Squads

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