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Afghanistan National Cricket Team have had stellar growth in the recent few years. Especially in ODI cricket, under their captain Hashmatullah Shahidi, who has now stepped down from the role with immediate effect. This is a huge setback for the Afghanistan ODI side as Shahidi has led the side well in this format.
Hashmat Shahidi had his last assignment during the tour against India in India, where the Afghans played a one-off Test match and a three-match ODI series, as they were clean-swept across all the formats, but they had a good fight in some of the games, which showcased their development in this format in recent years.
Hashmatullah Shahidi steps down as Afghan captain
Hashmatullah Shahidi, while writing on his Instagram, stated that after serious personal consideration, he has decided to resign as captain, and it was an honour to lead the side; he also thanked all his teammates, coaches, and the fans as well.
“The post read, Resignation from the Captaincy. After careful personal consideration, I have decided to step down as captain of our team. It has been a great honor to lead this team. I sincerely thank the management, coaches, my teammates, and our supporters for their trust and support throughout this journey.”
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”Although I am resigning as captain, I remain fully committed to serving the team as a player and wish the new captain and the team continued success. With respect, Hashmatullah Shahidi.”
Hashmatullah Shahidi's record as Afghanistan captain
Hashmat Shahidi led Afghanistan in 55 matches, leading Afghanistan at one Asia Cup and ODI World Cup, both in 2023, and the Champions Trophy in 2025, for the first time in their cricketing history. They performed well across these three competitions and nearly missed qualification for the knockout rounds.
Under his captaincy, Afghanistan won 27 matches, which included some famous wins against England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands at the 2023 World Cup. They nearly defeated Australia as well in the group stage, but a Glenn Maxwell masterclass took the game away from them and qualified for the next round, but they failed to win the match.
Again in the Champions Trophy 2025, they defeated England and once again were close, edging past Australia, but the match was washed out. However, they finished in third position above England. This showcased the larger picture of the team’s performance under Hashmat Shahidi.
Afghanistan also won bilateral series against Bangladesh (three times), Zimbabwe (twice), South Africa, and Ireland (once each) while Shahidi was captain.
Hashmatullah Shahidi batting record
Hashmat Shahidi as a batter also had a good record. During his tenure as a non-captain, he played 41 innings from 2011-2021, during which he scored 1154 with an average of 32.97 and had a strike rate of 64.39.
After he took over the captaincy in 2022, until stepping down, he featured in 53 innings, scoring 1453 with an average of 33.79 and a strike rate of 70.77. He has scored only one century in his ODI career, which came last month against India in Chennai, where he played a knock of 102 runs off 131 balls.
