Rashid Khan Arman born 20 September 1998), commonly known as Rashid Khan, is an Afghan cricketer who represents the national team. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first ever Test match, against India, in June 2018. He also returned the most expensive bowling figures by a debutant in a nation's maiden Test match.

Rashid played in the 2017 Indian Premier League for Sunrisers Hyderabad. In June 2017, he took the best bowling figures for an associate nation in a One Day International (ODI) match. In February 2018, he became the youngest player to top the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in ODIs. Later the same month, he also topped the ICC Player Rankings for bowlers in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).

In March 2018, during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier, he captained Afghanistan for the first time in an ODI match. At the age of 19 years and 165 days, he became the youngest player to captain an international side. In the final of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier, against the West Indies, Khan became the fastest and youngest bowler to take 100 wickets in ODIs when he dismissed Shai Hope. He took 44 matches to take his 100th dismissal, breaking the previous record of 52 matches, set by Mitchell Starc of Australia. In June 2018, he became the fastest bowler, in terms of time, to take 50 wickets in T20Is. He reached the milestone in two years and 220 days, in the first T20I against Bangladesh.


Early life

Rashid Khan was born in 1998 in Nangarhar, eastern Afghanistan. He hails from Jalalabad, and has ten siblings. When he was still young, his family fled the Afghan war and lived in Pakistan for "a few years". They later returned to Afghanistan, resuming their normal life and Rashid continued his schooling. Rashid grew up playing cricket with his brothers and idolised Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi, from whom he stylised his bowling action.


Domestic and T20 franchise career

On 7 December 2016 he made his first-class debut for Afghanistan against England Lions in Abu Dhabi, taking 4 for 48 and 8 for 74 and scoring 25 not out and 52.

In February 2017, he was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad for the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) for 4 crores. He was also amongst the two first ever Afghan players to be selected for the IPL. The following month, he was bought by Guyana Amazon Warriors for $60,000 to play in the 2017 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). In September 2017, he took a hat-trick for Guyana Amazon Warriors, the first hat-trick in the history of the CPL.

He made his IPL debut in the opening fixture of the 2017 tournament, taking two wickets, as the Sunrisers Hyderabad won the match by 35 runs. He finished the tournament as the sixth-highest wicket-taker with 17 wickets from 14 matches.

In September 2017, he signed with Adelaide Strikers to play in the 2017–18 Big Bash League, he later went on to win the 2017–18 Big Bash League. In November 2017, he was selected to play for the Quetta Gladiators in 2018 Pakistan Super League players draft. In January 2018, he was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 IPL auction.The following month, he was signed by Sussex County Cricket Club to play in the NatWest t20 Blast in England.

On 5 May 2018, during the 2018 Indian Premier League, Khan played in his 100th Twenty20 match. He took two wickets, affected a run out, and was named the man of the match.

International career

He made his One Day International (ODI) debut for Afghanistan against Zimbabwe on 18 October 2015. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut, also against Zimbabwe, on 26 October.

On 10 March 2017, Khan took his maiden T20I five-wicket haul at the second T20I against Ireland. His figures of five wickets for three runs is the best bowling performance by an Afghan cricket in a T20I and the joint fourth-best figures in all T20Is. He became the first player to take a five-wicket haul in two overs in a T20I match. Afghanistan won the match and Rashid and Najeeb Tarakai shared the man of the match award.

In the ODI series against Ireland, along with Paul Stirling, they became the first pair of bowlers from different teams to each take six wickets in the same ODI.

On 9 June, he took his second ODI five-wicket haul, finishing with figures of 7 wickets for 18 runs against the West Indies at Gros Islet. It was the fourth best ODI bowling figures and first by an associate nation cricketer to take 7 wickets. Afghanistan defended its total of 212 runs and won the match by 63 runs, and Khan was adjudged man of the match.

In January 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named him as the Associate Cricketer of the Year.The following month, he was named as the stand-in captain of the Afghanistan team for the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament, while Afghanistan's regular captain, Asghar Stanikzai, recovered from having his appendix removed. In February 2018, the ICC named Khan as one of the ten players to watch ahead of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament.

In April 2018, he was named in the Rest of the World XI squad for the one-off T20I against the West Indies, which was played at Lord's on 31 May 2018.

Test cricket

In May 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for their inaugural Test match, played against India. He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, against India, on 14 June 2018. On his Test debut he conceded 154 runs in the first innings of the match, becoming the first bowler to concede more than 150 runs in their inaugural Test appearance of any player's country. Rashid's figures of 2 for 154 in the first innings was also the highest number of runs conceded by a bowler in country's inaugural Test match, beating the previous record held by Amir Elahi, who conceded 134 runs during Pakistan's debut Test against India in 1952. During the Afghanistan's inaugural test match he along with Wafadar set a new record for becoming the first pair of teenagers to concede more than 100 runs each in nation's inaugural Test match.

@tawhid