Rahmat Shah

Rahmat Shah Zurmatai is a cricketer hailing from Afghanistan who bats in the middle-order and bowls equally effective leg spins and googlies. Rahmat is a picture-perfect batsman when in full flow. He is the first Afghani to score a Test century and was once named the red-ball captain for his national team. 

The Paktia-born came in as a child prodigy during the ICC Intercontinental Cup in 2013 where the youngster made his first-class debut against Scotland to score an unbeaten 67, which was also the highest score in the game. He made his List-A in the following season during the tour of Pakistan. 

After an impressive domestic welcome, Rahmat made his international debut in an ODI game against Scotland in March. However, it wasn’t until 2016 when the stylish batter scored his maiden ton and left his mark on the world stage. Rahmat followed it with an unbeaten 100 against Scotland and backed it up with a fighting 71 against Bangladesh. 

In 2018, he made his Test debut during the historic match against India at Bangalore. The next year, he scored twin fifties against Ireland where he missed to score his maiden ton just by a couple of runs in the first innings. However, he redeemed himself by becoming the first Test centurion from Afghanistan, when he notched a hundred against Bangladesh. In April 2019, ACB named Rahmat the Test skipper but later was replaced by Rashid Khan. 

Rahmat played a massive role in the series victory over Ireland in 2019, which led to his selection in the World Cup squad. The stylish batter finished as Afghanistan’s highest run-getter, with his best of 62 runs against the West Indies. 

Over the years, Rahmat has become the backbone and an indispensable part of Afghanistan, especially in the longer formats. His all-round skills and dominant strokeplay make him an unbreakable force in the middle-order. 

(As of March 2021)