Red-Hot Rashid Khan Continues To Break Records As Afghanistan Thrash Bangladesh In First T20I

There is absolutely no stopping Rashid Khan. The Afghan sensation just keeps on getting better and better with each passing game. On Sunday, he starred for Afghanistan as they beat Bangladesh in the first of the three-match T20I series. The leg-spinner finished the game with figures of 3/13 from his three overs, helping Afghanistan thrash the Tigers by 45 runs.

In the process, the leg-spinner became the fastest to reach 50 T20I wickets in terms of time taken. Rashid achieved the feat in two years and 220 days since his debut. He also became the second fastest to reach the landmark in terms of matches played.

He made his T20 debut on October 26, 2015 versus Zimbabwe and took 31 games to take his 50th wicket. Former Sri Lankan mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis was the fastest to achieve the feat, reaching the landmark in just 26 matches. Rashid is joint second along with South Africa spinner Imran Tahir.  South Africa’s Dale Steyn (35) is third on the list followed by Pakistan’s Umar Gul (36) and Saeed Ajmal (37).

Speaking after the match, Rashid said, “There was no secret, I just kept everything simple, did everything I’ve been doing in the last 2-3 months. I had no specific plans when I came on after 10 overs. Just bowl a little back of a length, not too full for the batsman to hit.

“It was a good surface, ball was gripping. Little bit of dew in the end, but with that dew it was gripping better. We just played IPL and it’s the biggest stage and the biggest platform, so the confidence will help you in these games. It was a team effort,” he added.

Rashid has been enjoying a stunning time in international cricket. Earlier in the year, he became the fastest to reach 100 ODI wickets. Rashid reached the milestone during the ICC World Cup Qualifier final against West Indies. He was also the youngest bowler to achieve the feat. He took just 44 matches to complete a century of wickets in ODIs, comfortably beating Mitchell Starc’s record of 52 matches.

A month prior to that, he became the youngest player to be ranked No. 1 in the ICC’s Player Rankings across formats after clinching the top spot in T20I bowlers list. He was also the youngest to captain a country at the age of 19 years 160 days.