Afghanistan captain Mohammad Asghar Stanikzai is now being referred as Asghar Afghan. The right-handed batsman has changed his name in ‘honour of protecting the national identity of Afghan citizens’. The 30-year-old while registering for the new Electronic National Identity Card decided to change his name. The same was confirmed by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). So, if you spot Asghar Afghan as captain on Afghanistan team sheet don’t be confused, he is the same Asghar Stanikzai. Asia Cup 2018 Schedule in PDF for Free Download: Timetable With List of All Matches in IST Including India vs Pakistan Fixture.

“Afghanistan National Cricket Team captain Asghar Stanikzai has changed his name to Asghar Afghan in honour of protecting the national identity of Afghan citizens. The decision was made official when he registered for the new Electronic National Identity Cards (E-tazkira),” tweeted ACB.

In 2015, Asghar was named as Afghanistan captain after Mohammad Nabi stepped down from his post following team’s poor performance. Asghar has since then led the side and has done well both as a captain and batsman. He helped his side qualify for the ICC World Cup 2019 as under his captaincy Afghanistan won the qualifying tournament by defeating Windies in the final.  Asia Cup 2018 Points Table: Know Group A & B, Round of 4 Standings As India, Pakistan Begin Tournament As Favourites!

Asghar made his debut in 2009 against Scotland and has been one of the key figures in the Afghan side. He has scored over 1600 runs 90 ODIs. In game’s shorter format, Asghar has played 56 matches and has scored 1031 runs. Also, under Asghar’s captaincy, Afghanistan achieved the Test status as well and he apparently became country’s first Test captain.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan are currently participating in the Asia Cup 2018 and placed in Group B alongside Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 17, 2018 07:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).