Mohammad Asghar Afghan (; born Mohammad Asghar Stanikzai) is an Afghan former cricketer who had captained the Afghanistan national cricket team. Asghar is a right-handed batsman and a medium-fast bowler. In May 2018, he was named as the captain of Afghanistan, for their inaugural Test match, against India. He made his Test debut, against India, on 14 June 2018. On 2 August 2018, he changed his last name from Stanikzai to Afghan. In April 2019, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) dropped him as captain of the Afghanistan team across all three formats. However, in December 2019, the ACB reappointed Asghar Stanikzai as the captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all formats. In March 2021, during the series against Zimbabwe, Afghan played in his 50th T20I as Afghanistan's captain. In May 2021, he was sacked as the national team captain. In October 2021, ahead of Afghanistan's match against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

in the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Afghan announced his retirement from all forms of cricket following the game.

Early life

Afghan was born in 1987 in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. He was a refugee in

Peshawar Peshawar is the capital and List of cities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by population, largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It is the sixth most populous city of Pakistan, with a district p ...

, Pakistan, where he started playing cricket along with Mohammad Nabi, Dawlat Zadran, and Shapoor Zadran.

Early career

Afghan made his representative international debut for Afghanistan U-17s in the 2004 ACC Under-17 competition, where he played his debut match against the United Arab Emirates Under-17s. His debut match for the senior squad came against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

in the 2004 ACC Trophy, as well as the 2006 ACC Trophy and the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup. Afghan was a member of the Afghanistan side that, from 2008 to 2009, won the World Cricket League Division Five, Division Four and Division Three, earning them promotion to Division Two and allowing them to take part in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier where they gained

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

status. In the World Cup Qualifier, Afghan made his List-A debut, against

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and later in the tournament he made his

debut against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. His first-class debut came in Intercontinental Cup against a Zimbabwe XI in a match that Afghanistan drew. Later, in November 2009 he was a member of Afghanistan's 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup winning squad.

Rising career

Afghan made his

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

debut against

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in the 2010 Quadrangular Twenty20 Series in Sri Lanka. Later on in February 2010, Afghan played a single match in Afghanistan's victorious 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier, playing in the final against Ireland. Afghan was later named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20. In April 2010, Afghan was a key member of Afghanistan's 2010 ACC Trophy Elite winning squad which defeated

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

in the final. Afghan ended the tournament as the third leading run scorer with 253 runs, including a score of 151 runs from 83 balls against

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

. On 1 March 2014, Afghan's 90* helped

win against

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

which was their first win against a Test-playing nation. He and Samiullah Shenwari put on a 164 runs partnership for the sixth wicket which is the fifth highest Partnership for the sixth wicket in the history of ODIs and the third highest ODI Partnership for

. In February 2018, he had his appendix removed, therefore missing the start of the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament. In September 2018, he was named in Kandahar's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. He was the leading run-scorer for the Kandahar Knights in the tournament, with 264 runs in eight matches. In April 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the

2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...

. The following month, in the ODI series against Scotland, he became the second cricketer for Afghanistan to play in 100 ODI matches. In September 2021, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. Afghan announced his retirement from international cricket mid-way through the tournament, playing his final match against

. He later explained that their loss against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

made him decide that the time was right to retire as the team was too hurt and he wanted to give younger players a chance.

References

28
ASIA CUP 2014: Can Afghanistan Battle it Out Against the Asian Giants?

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Afghan, Asghar 1987 births Living people Pashtun cricketers Cricketers from Kabul Afghan cricketers 21st-century Afghan sportsmen Afghanistan Test cricketers Afghanistan One Day International cricketers Afghanistan Twenty20 International cricketers Asian Games medalists in cricket Cricketers at the 2010 Asian Games Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Asian Games silver medalists for Afghanistan Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Kandahar Knights cricketers Afghan cricket captains