Rahmat Shah Zurmatai (Pashto: رحمت شاه زرمتی; born 6 July 1993) is an Afghan cricketer who plays for the Afghanistan national cricket team. He is a right-handed batsman and an occasional leg break bowler.[1] He made his international debut in an ODI against Scotland in March 2013.[2] He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first ever Test match, against India, in June 2018. In September 2019, in the one-off Test between Afghanistan and Bangladesh, Rahmat scored Afghanistan's first century in Test cricket.[3]

Rahmat Shah
Shah in 2021
Personal information
Full name
Rahmat Shah Zurmatai
Born (1993-07-06) 6 July 1993 (age 31)
Zurmat, Paktia, Afghanistan
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm leg break
RoleAll-rounder
International information
National side
Test debut (cap 8)14 June 2018 v India
Last Test14 June 2023 v Bangladesh
ODI debut (cap 29)6 March 2013 v Scotland
Last ODI10 November 2023 v South Africa
ODI shirt no.8
Only T20I (cap 54)11 January 2024 v India
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2013Afghan Cheetahs
2013/14–2014/15Mohammedan Sporting Club
2017Mis Ainak Region
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 7 103 20 137
Runs scored 424 3,303 1,172 4,573
Batting average 30.28 35.90 40.41 37.17
100s/50s 1/3 5/23 3/7 7/30
Top score 102 114 144 114
Balls bowled 66 537 860 1,787
Wickets 1 15 15 56
Bowling average 43.00 36.71 29.33 29.96
5 wickets in innings 1 0 2
10 wickets in match 0 0 0
Best bowling 1/34 5/32 3/30 5/32
Catches/stumpings 4/– 25/– 12/– 32/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 7 June 2023

Domestic career

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Rahmat was named in a number of first-class and One-Day International squads for Afghanistan. He has played List A cricket for Afghanistan against Pakistan A and other domestic teams in Pakistan, such as Faisalabad and Rawalpindi.[4][5] He made his Twenty20 debut for Band-e-Amir Dragons in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 12 September 2017.[6]

In July 2018, Rahmat was the leading run-scorer for Mis Ainak Region in the 2018 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, with 258 runs in five matches.[7] He was also the leading wicket-taker for the team in the tournament, with eight dismissals in five matches.[7]

International career

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Rahmat made his One Day International (ODI) debut for Afghanistan against Scotland on 6 March 2013.[8] On 4 July 2016, he made his first century in an ODI during Afghanistan's tour of Scotland.[9][10]

In May 2018, Rahmat was named in Afghanistan's squad for their inaugural Test match, played against India.[11][12] He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, against India, on 14 June 2018.[13] In February 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's Test squad for their one-off match against Ireland in India.[14][15]

In April 2019, Rahmat was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.[16][17] He finished the tournament as the leading run-scorer for Afghanistan, with 254 runs in nine matches.[18]

In April 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named Shah as the team's new Test captain, replacing Asghar Afghan.[19][20] However, following the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Rashid Khan was named as the new captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all three formats.[21] Therefore, Rahmat was replaced before captaining the team in a Test match.[22]

In September 2019, Rahmat scored a century in the one-off Test match against Bangladesh, becoming the first batsman for Afghanistan to score a century in a Test match.[23]

In January 2024, Shah was named in Afghanistan's Twenty20 International (T20I) squads for their series against India.[24] On 11 January 2024, He made his T20I debut for Afghanistan against India.[25]

T20 franchise career

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In September 2018, Rahmat was named in Nangarhar's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament.[26]

References

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  1. ^ Rahmat Shah ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2013
  2. ^ "Rahmat Shah profile and biography, stats, records, averages, photos and videos". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 28 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Rahmat Shah becomes 1st Afghanistan cricketer to hit Test hundred". India Today. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  4. ^ Faisalabad and Rawalpindi vs Afghanistan Scorecard Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2013
  5. ^ Pakistan A vs Afghanistan Scorecard Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2013
  6. ^ "3rd Match, Shpageeza Cricket League at Kabul, Sep 12 2017". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  7. ^ a b "2018 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, Mis Ainak Region: Batting and Bowling Averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 26 July 2018.
  8. ^ "Rahmat Shah". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  9. ^ "Afghanistan tour of Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands, 1st ODI: Scotland v Afghanistan at Edinburgh, Jul 4, 2016". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  10. ^ "Rain spoils Rahmat's ton, Najib's blitz". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
  11. ^ "Afghanistan Squads for T20I Bangladesh Series and on-eoff India Test Announced". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  12. ^ "Afghanistan pick four spinners for inaugural Test". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 29 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Only Test, Afghanistan tour of India at Bengaluru, Jun 14-18 2018". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  14. ^ "Mujeeb left out for Ireland Test, Shahzad out of T20Is". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  15. ^ "No Mujeeb in Tests as Afghanistan announce squads for Ireland series". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 7 February 2019.
  16. ^ "Hamid Hassan picked in Afghanistan's World Cup squad; Naib to captain". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Asghar Afghan included in Gulbadin Naib-led World Cup squad". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  18. ^ "ICC Cricket World Cup, 2019 - Afghanistan: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Asghar Afghan removed as Afghanistan announce split captaincy". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  20. ^ "Rahmat, Rashid given leadership roles in Afghanistan revamp". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
  21. ^ "Rashid to captain Afghanistan across formats, Asghar appointed his deputy". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  22. ^ "Rashid Khan named Afghanistan captain across formats". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  23. ^ "Rahmat Shah becomes first Afghanistan batsman to score Test hundred". Times Now News. Retrieved 5 September 2019.
  24. ^ "ACB Name Squad for the T20I Series against India". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  25. ^ "1st T20I (N), Mohali, January 11, 2024, Afghanistan tour of India". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  26. ^ "Afghanistan Premier League 2018 – All you need to know from the player draft". CricTracker. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
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