Afghanistan has produced some great cricketers lately and Rashid Khan is one of them. He’s a cricket icon because of his amazing leg spin.
Born in 1998 in eastern Afghanistan, Rashid’s family moved to Pakistan to escape the war. It was there he got into cricket. He idolized Shahid Afridi and played with his brothers. When his family went back to Afghanistan, he kept up with his studies and trained as much as he could with limited resources.
Rashid made his international debut against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on October 18, 2015. Just a few days later on October 26, he played his first T20I match against Zimbabwe. He got a wicket and Afghanistan won by 6 wickets.
In February 2018, Rashid was made captain for the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. He played his first Test match on June 14, 2018 against India and took 2 wickets for 153 runs. After the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Rashid was made captain in all formats but his tenure lasted till December 2019.
Then in July 2021, he was back as the T20I captain. But surprisingly he resigned saying the selection committee didn’t get his buy-in. On November 7, 2021 he took his 400th T20I wicket.
Rashid Khan’s Captaincy Record in T20I
| Matches Played | Matches Won | Matches Lost | Tie/No Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 33 | 19 | 14 | 0 |
Test Cricket
June 14, 2018, Rashid had the most expensive bowling figures by a debutant in a country’s first ever Test match. Rashid went past 150 runs in his debut, he was the first bowler to do that in any player’s country. Rashid’s 2 for 154 in the first innings was the most runs by a bowler in a country’s debut Test match beating Amir Elahi’s old record. In September 2019 he became the youngest cricketer to ever captain a match. Rashid was also the first bowler from Afghanistan to get a ten-wicket haul. In February 2019 he became Afghanistan’s first bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match.
One Day International (ODI) Record February 2018, Rashid became the youngest player to top the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers. In March 2018, he was the youngest to captain an international side in the Cricket World Cup Qualifier. During the final of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, Rashid became the fastest and youngest bowler to get 100 wickets.
T20I Record
June 2018, Rashid was the fastest bowler (by days) to get 50 wickets. By October 2021 he had 100 wickets in 53 matches, the fewest any bowler has taken to reach that mark.
As captain Rashid Khan has led Afghanistan in 33 matches, won 19 and lost 14.
