Beginning of a new era in Afghanistan cricket… Rahmat Shah got the captaincy, the dreaded batsman who scored a century in India became the vice captain.

New Delhi. Recently, taking a major administrative decision, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has officially announced to hand over the command of the national men’s cricket team in Test and ODI formats to veteran batsman Rahmat Shah. 33-year-old Rahmat Shah has been given this responsibility after Hashmatullah Shahidi resigned from the post. Along with this, young and explosive wicketkeeper-batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz has been appointed as Rahmat’s vice-captain.

Behind this new dawn of Afghan cricket lies the history of a very successful period. From the time Hashmatullah Shahidi took charge of the Afghanistan team in May 2021, till the end of his tenure, he gave a new identity to the country’s cricket on the global map. Shahidi’s captaincy journey began with a spectacular series win against the Netherlands in January 2022, which was just the beginning of a historic period to come.

Historic success in ODI World Cup and Champions Trophy
Under the leadership of Shahidi, the Afghan team started instilling fear in the hearts of the opposing teams. During his tenure, the team won 27 out of total 55 ODI matches. The golden page of Afghanistan’s cricket history was written during the ‘ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023’ held in India. Under the leadership of Shahidi, the team surprised the cricket world by defeating strong teams like England, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Netherlands. This incredible performance in the World Cup not only won the hearts of Afghan fans, but also got the team a ticket to directly qualify for the ‘ICC Champions Trophy 2025’. In this global tournament too, under the captaincy of Shahidi, Afghanistan achieved another memorable and exciting victory over England.

Consecutive bilateral series wins and historical records
Shahidi’s magic was not limited to big tournaments only. Under his guidance during 2024 and 2025, the team created a new record by winning five consecutive ODI series one after the other. During this period, they defeated Ireland, South Africa, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and then again Bangladesh. The most special thing in this was that the series win against South Africa was the first bilateral series win against the Proteas team in the history of Afghan cricket. Apart from this, on the basis of Shahidi’s strategies, the team proved its dominance by defeating Bangladesh in three consecutive ODI series at home and then in UAE. The result of this successful captaincy of Shahidi was that Afghanistan was successful in reaching the best 7th ICC ODI ranking in its history.

Rahmat Shah has experience and confidence of new leadership
Now when Shahidi decided to step down from his responsibility, the board expressed confidence in Rahmat Shah. Rahmat Shah has been the backbone of Afghanistan’s batting order for a long time. Since May 2021, he was working as vice-captain with Shahidi in Test and ODI formats. Rahmat, who has the experience of playing 12 Tests, 128 ODIs and one T20 International, has a deep understanding of the game and is fully prepared to take the team forward.

Role of Vice-Captain Rahmanullah Gurbaz
To support Rahmat Shah, the board has made young star Rahmanullah Gurbaz the vice-captain. Gurbaz has been in great form in recent times. Last month itself, in the first ODI played against India at the beautiful Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium in Dharamshala, he proved his ability by playing a brilliant century.

The beginning of a new era of Afghan cricket
Afghanistan cricket now stands at a juncture where the pair of Rahmat Shah and Rahmanullah Gurbaz have to build a new fort on the strong foundation built by Shahidi’s hard work. Fans are hopeful that this new leadership will take Afghan cricket to greater heights of success.