Before the start of first T20I against Pakistan, Afghanistan players gave farewell to their superstar bowler Hamid Hassan who recently took retirement from international cricket. 

Afghanistan’s skipper presented an honorary shield to Hamid who represented his country in 38 ODIs and 25 T20Is. 

Hassan took charge as Afghanistan’s bowling coach after former Pakistan cricketer Umar Gul left the job. He will be with the Afghanistan team for one year. 

Hassan’s last competitive cricket game was in October 2022 and is one of the players from their first batch of international cricketers who brought Afghanistan cricket on the world map. He last featured for Afghanistan in 2021 playing his first T20I in more than five years. 

Hassan played his last ODI in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2019 and made his last T20I appearance for Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup in 2021. He picked up 59 ODI wickets and 35 T20I wickets.

Currently, Pakistan and Afghanistan are taking on each other in first T20I of three-match series at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Pakistan’s skipper Shadab Khan won the toss and decided to bat first. 

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris, Abdullah Shafique, Tayyab Tahir, Shadab Khan (c), Azam Khan (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Zaman Khan and Ihsanullah

Afghanistan: Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Karim Janat, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan (c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rehman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq