The Afghanistan players to watch against England

Many of the Afghan team shone in the narrow opening defeat by India Mohammad Shahzad Gritty, pugnacious and larger-than-life, the wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad has been at the heart of Afghanistan cricket's rise from Division Five of the World Cricket League. Never out of the spotlight with his unorthodox batting style, Shahzad's explosive helicopter shot against India on Wednesday has provided one of the highlights of the tournament Nawroz Mangal captain After his parents left Afghanistan to escape the Soviet invasion Mangal spent most of his early life over the border in a Pakistani refugee camp where he was first introduced to cricket. Now captain, Mangal is keen to emphasise the potential grass-roots benefits arising from Afghanistan's success. Opening alongside Shazhad against India in Colombo, he produced a number of silky shots on his way to 22 Shapoor Zadran Undeniably the man capable of ripping through England's young top order is Afghanistan's lively, left-arm opening bowler. More than 6ft tall and clocking well over 90mph, he demonstrated his unquestionable potential, removing the Indian openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag Dawlat Zadran In the injury-enforced absence of Afghanistan's leading wicket taker, the bandana-wearing maverick Hamid Hassan, he has taken over new-ball duties. He made his T20 debut in a World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands, Afghanistan coming away with a crucial four-wicket win, and was on the shortlist for the ICC's Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year Karim Sadiq In a team that has always craved top-quality batsmen, Karim Sadiq is the rock of Afghanistan's top order – with two ODI hundreds to his name – as well as wicketkeeping cover during their opener against India when Shahzad limped off injured. Could make Stuart Broad sweat today with his strokeplay Mohammad Nabi A capable all-rounder, Nabi is an aggressive middle-order batsman who bowls the odd spell of off-breaks. The 27-year-old top-scored in Wednesday's Group A opener against India with 31 from 17 balls. However, Nabi was responsible for dropping two chances off his own bowling before finally holding on to Kohli's wayward shot Xander Drury and Sean Cole