Mohammad Asghar Afghan (; born Mohammad Asghar Stanikzai) is an Afghan former cricketer who had captained the

Afghanistan national cricket team The Afghanistan men's national cricket team (, ) represents Afghanistan in international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council with Test, One-Day International and T20 International status. Cricket has been play ...

. Asghar is a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

and a

medium-fast Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

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 The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB; , ; formerly Afghanistan Cricket Federation) is the official governing body of cricket in Afghanistan. It is Afghanistan's representative at the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was an associate member ...

(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 The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, a Twenty20 cricket tournament that took place from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The tournament was hosted by Unit ...

, 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 Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil (; born 1 January 1985) is an Afghan cricketer and former captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team. Nabi is an attacking batting all-rounder, playing as a right-handed batsman and off-break ...

Dawlat Zadran Dawlat Zadran (; born 19 March 1988) is a former Afghan cricketer. Zadran is a right-arm fast bowler and a right-handed batsman, though he is better known for his bowling. He was born in Paktia Province. Career Zadran was a refugee in Peshawar ...

, and

Shapoor Zadran Shapoor Zadran (; born 8 July 1987) is an Afghan cricketer who currently plays for the national cricket team. He is a left-arm fast-medium bowler. Early life Zadran was born on 8 July 1987 in Logar Province, Afghanistan. He was a refugee in P ...

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 The 2004 ACC Trophy was a cricket tournament in Malaysia, taking place between 12 and 24 June 2004. It gave Associate and Affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience of international one-day cricket and also helps forms an essenti ...

, as well as the

2006 ACC Trophy The 2006 ACC Trophy was a cricket tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, taking place between 14 August and 26 August 2006. It gave associate and affiliate members of the Asian Cricket Council experience in international one-day cricket. This wa ...

and the

2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup The 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup was played from 27 October until 2 November 2007 in Kuwait. The ten competing teams were: Afghanistan, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the UAE. Group stage Group A Group A sa ...

. Afghan was a member of the Afghanistan side that, from 2008 to 2009, won the

World Cricket League The ICC World Cricket League (WCL) was a series of international one-day cricket tournaments for national teams without Test status (i.e., teams of Associate status) administered by the International Cricket Council. All Associate Members of ...

Division Five,

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

and

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...

, earning them promotion to Division Two and allowing them to take part in the

2009 ICC World Cup Qualifier The 2009 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that took place in April 2009 in South Africa. It was the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2011 Cricket World Cup. The tournament was the renam ...

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 List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

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 The 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup was played between 22 and 30 November 2009 in the United Arab Emirates. The twelve competing teams were: Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Nepal, Oman national cricket team, Oman, Qatar national ...

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

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

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 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier was played from 9–13 February 2010 in the United Arab Emirates and a part of ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier series. The top two teams progressed to play in the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, the international cham ...

, playing in the final against Ireland. Afghan was later named in Afghanistan's squad for the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was wo ...

. 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 Samiullah Shinwari (; born 31 December 1987) is an Afghan cricketer who represents Afghanistan at the international level. He is a right-handed batsman and leg break bowler. He made his international debut, against Scotland, in April 2009. Car ...

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 The 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament that took place during March 2018 in Zimbabwe. It formed the final part of the Cricket World Cup qualification process for the 2019 World Cup in England and Wales. The top two t ...

tournament. In September 2018, he was named in Kandahar's squad in the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition is all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a book pr ...

of the

Afghanistan Premier League The Afghanistan Premier League (; ), officially Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was a Twenty20 cricket franchise tournament run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), held in the United Arab Emirates.) The only tour ...

tournament. He was the leading run-scorer for the

Kandahar Knights Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

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

. 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