Afghanistan, one of the latest nations to be considered as a full member by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The team has been creating a great impact ever since they started as an affiliate team. It was only in June of 2017, the Asian team became the 12th team to be added in the full members list.
Though, the relevant young team has played few matches in the highest level, they have never failed to showcase their talents in the opportunities they were given. They take their competition to the highest level when playing with the best teams and the best example is the match against India in the World Cup 2019, where they almost took the match away from India.
They have also clean swept Ireland and Bangladesh on occasions which show their ability to perform at the highest level.
Cricwizz takes a look into the Top 5 highest run-scorers for Afghanistan in ODIs.
1. Mohammad Nabi (2796 runs)
The former Afghanistan captain seldom shies away from the toppers list. The 35- year old all-rounder grabs the No.1 spot in our list with 2796 runs to his name in 124 matches he represented Afghanistan. The vastly experienced Afghani has several records to his name, apart from batting he also holds bowling records, which makes him the best all-rounder in Afghanistan.
The right-hander scores his runs at an average of 27.41 and strike-rate of 85.5 and has a high score of 116 in ODIs.
During the one-off Test match against Bangladesh in September 2019, he announced his retirement from Test cricket to focus on limited-overs cricket.
2. Mohammad Shahzad (2727 runs)
The aggressive Wicket-keeper batsman grabs the No.2 Spot in the list with 2727 runs to his name in the 84 matches he played for Afghanistan. The right-hander scores his runs at an average of 33.66 and a modest strike-rate of 88.48. Though his strike-rate of 88.48 does not justify his real capability, he has played several innings at strike-rate of over 250. The 32-year old has a high score of 131* against Zimbabwe, which is the highest ever individual score by an Afghan player in ODIs till date.
In April 2019, he was named in Afghanistan’s squad for the 2019 World Cup. However, later on June 6, he was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury. Later in an interview Shahzad stated that he had no health problem but despite that he was ruled out of the team for the World Cup matches by the board. He also added that it does not seem that he will return to the team ever.
3. Rahmat Shah (2359 runs)
The former Afghanistan captain grabs the No.3 spot in the list with 2359 runs to his name in the 73 matches he played for Afghanistan. The 27-year old scores his runs at an average of 35.20 and mediocre strike-rate of 70.08. He has a high score of 114 of 110 balls to his name which he scored against Zimbabwe.
The Right-hander became the first batsman for Afghanistan to score a century in Test Cricket, the feat achieved in the one-off test match against Bangladesh in 2019.
4. Asghar Afghan (2356 runs)
The current Afghanistan Captain grabs the No.4 spot with 2356 runs to his name in ODIs. The 33-year old scores his runs at an average of 24.54 and modest strike-rate of 66.72. He has a high score of 101 of 90 balls against Ireland.
He holds the record for being only the second player to play 100 International matches for Afghanistan after Mohammad Nabi.
In May 2018, he was named as the captain of Afghanistan, for their inaugural Test match against India.
5. Samiullah Shenwari (1811 runs)
The 32-year old grabs the No.5 spot in our list with 1811 runs in the 84 matches he played for Afghanistan. He scores his runs at an average of 29.20 and strike-rate of 65.49. The right-hander has a high score of 96 against Scotland.
In April 2019, Shenwari was named in Afghanistan’s squad for the 2019 cricket World Cup. In November 2019, he was named as the Captain of Afghanistan’s squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup held in Bangladesh.
Cover Credits: TheStatesman
