All-rounder Kandahar Warriors
Kandahar Warriors captain and the first bowler to 200 T20I wickets, back in the APL eight years after being its 2018 Player of the Series.
200
T20I wickets, first ever
7/18
Best ODI bowling
173
APL 2018 runs
10
APL 2018 wickets
Last updated 5 November 2026, 15:20 GST
Rashid Khan was the standout player of the first APL season. He captained Kabul Zwanan in 2018, when the league was played at Sharjah, and was named Player of the Series even though his side lost the final. Kabul made 132 for 9 on 21 October 2018 and Balkh Legends, led by Mohammad Nabi, chased it down with four wickets and 11 balls to spare. The series award still went to the losing captain, because no other player had shaped the tournament as much with both bat and ball.
The semi-final was the night that settled it. Against Paktia Panthers on 20 October 2018, Rashid made 35 not out off 19 balls as Kabul posted 192 for 9, then took 4 for 20 in 3.5 overs as Paktia were bowled out for 102 and Kabul won by 90 runs. He finished the tournament with 173 runs at a strike rate of 198.85 and 10 wickets at an economy of 6.59, the third-best economy in the tournament.
Eight years on he returns in different colours, and with more to carry. At the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, Kandahar Warriors picked him in the Afghan Icon category and named him captain, with Ravi Bopara as head coach and Irfan Pathan as mentor. The Warriors also held the first pick of the draft in both the Platinum and Diamond rounds, and built around him with Muhammad Amir, Mohammad Nabi, Joe Clarke, Kusal Perera, Tymal Mills and Mohammad Shahzad. Nothing he did in 2018 transfers onto the Kandahar record, but the 2026 side is built on the same idea: a captain who can win a game with either skill.
His 2018 figures are verified from Sussex CCC, CricTracker and Cricbuzz. One source, Sussex, gives his 2018 batting average as 57.67; CricTracker gives 34.6, and the arithmetic supports CricTracker, with 173 runs in eight innings and three not-outs, so this page uses 34.6.
| Season | Matches | Innings | Runs | Highest | Average | Strike rate | 50s / 100s | 4s | 6s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 9 | 8 | 173 | To be confirmed | 34.6 | 198.85 | To be confirmed | To be confirmed | 16 |
| 2026 | Season not started | ||||||||
| Season | Matches | Overs | Wickets | Best figures | Average | Economy | Strike rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 9 | 35.5 | 10 | 4/20 | 23.40* | 6.59 | 21.5* |
| 2026 | Season not started | ||||||
* Bowling average and strike rate are derived from the verified figures of 234 runs conceded in 35.5 overs for 10 wickets.
What could not be verified: his highest score in APL 2018, his bowling figures in the 2018 final, and a single authoritative career table after October 2026. Those are marked To be confirmed rather than estimated.
| Year | Team | Matches | Runs / Wickets | Team finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Kabul Zwanan | 9 | 173 runs / 10 wickets | Runners-up |
| 2026 | Kandahar Warriors | Season not started | Season not started | To be confirmed |
35 not out off 19 balls, with 2 fours and 3 sixes, then 4 for 20 in 3.5 overs, and Player of the Match. Kabul posted 192 for 9 and bowled Paktia out for 102 to win by 90 runs and reach the APL final.
Why it mattered: the all-round display sealed his Player of the Series award and took Kabul into the final.
5 for 3 in 2 overs at Greater Noida, his maiden T20I five-for and the best T20I figures by an Afghan at the time.
Why it mattered: the first player to take a T20I five-for in two overs, and a measure of how quickly he had become Afghanistan's main weapon.
7 for 18 at Gros Islet, his best ODI figures. Afghanistan defended 212 and won by 63 runs, with Rashid named Player of the Match.
Why it mattered: the best ODI figures by an Associate-nation player at the time, and the fourth-best ODI figures overall then.
34 not out off 10 balls, then 3 for 19, plus 2 catches and a run-out. Hyderabad won by 14 runs at Eden Gardens and reached the IPL final.
Why it mattered: Rashid later named it his favourite IPL spell, and it showed the full range of his game in one night.
4 for 23 and 19 not out off 10 balls at Kingstown. Afghanistan defended 115 and won by 8 runs to seal their first World Cup semi-final.
Why it mattered: as captain, he delivered the win that took Afghanistan further than they had ever gone at a World Cup.
Rashid bowls right-arm leg-break googly, and his threat is pace through the air as much as turn. He comes in fast, bowls flat and skids the ball on, and his googly is hard to pick, which is why batters so often play for the leg-break and miss the one that goes the other way. The economy is the point: among bowlers with 50 or more wickets after his debut, his economy rate was the lowest by almost half a run in early 2018, and his T20I economy still sits around six an over. Captains use him through the middle overs to squeeze a game, and in the death overs because batters cannot line him up.
With the bat he is a late-innings hitter. His T20I strike rate is 132.34 and his IPL strike rate 156.40, and he has five ODI fifties with a highest score of 60 not out. The 79 not out off 32 balls against Mumbai Indians in May 2023, with ten sixes, is the clearest example: he came in low down the order and nearly won a lost game on his own. In the field he is an athletic catcher, with 45 T20I catches, and the two catches and run-out in the 2018 IPL Qualifier 2 showed that part of his game too.
Rashid made his ODI debut for Afghanistan against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo on 18 October 2015, his T20I debut against the same opponents eight days later, and his Test debut in Afghanistan's first Test, against India at Bengaluru on 14 June 2018. He was still a teenager when he became Afghanistan's stand-in ODI captain in March 2018, the youngest player to captain an international team. He was named T20I captain in April 2019, captained in all formats from July to December 2019, stepped down as T20I captain in September 2021, and was reappointed in December 2022. He has captained Afghanistan at the T20 World Cup since then.
At World Cups, his best tournament came as captain in 2024, when Afghanistan reached their first World Cup semi-final. He took 14 wickets in eight matches at an average of 12.78, including 4 for 17 against New Zealand at Guyana and 4 for 23 against Bangladesh at Kingstown, the win that sealed the semi-final. South Africa ended the run in the semi-final at Tarouba on 27 June 2024, bowling Afghanistan out for 56. At the 2023 ODI World Cup he took 11 wickets in nine matches, with best figures of 3 for 37 against England at Delhi, as Afghanistan won four games and finished sixth. At the 2019 ODI World Cup he took six wickets in nine games, and his 0 for 110 against England at Old Trafford was the most expensive spell in a World Cup match at the time.
His franchise career runs through almost every major T20 league. In the IPL he played for Sunrisers Hyderabad from 2017 to 2021, taking 93 wickets in 76 matches, then joined Gujarat Titans in 2022 as vice-captain and won the title in the Titans' first season, with 19 wickets in 16 matches. He has played for Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash since 2017-18, winning BBL|07 as the tournament's equal-leading wicket-taker with 18 wickets, though he missed the final on international duty. He won the PSL with Lahore Qalandars in 2022, taking 13 wickets in nine matches but missing the final on national duty, and he has played in The Hundred for Trent Rockets and MI London, captained MI Cape Town in the SA20, and played for MI New York in Major League Cricket and MI Emirates in the ILT20.
| Format | Matches | Runs | Highest | Wickets | Bowling average | Best |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Test | 6 | 154 | 51 | 45 | 20.44 | 7/66 |
| ODI | 123 | 1,469 | 60* | 230 | 19.43 | 7/18 |
| T20I | 115 | 622 | 48* | 193 | 13.73 | 5/3 |
| T20 | 547 | 3,012 | 79* | 736 | 18.72 | 6/17 |
| IPL | 153 | 635 | 79* | 179 | 23.92 | 4/24 |
Late-October 2026 update, a separate and later snapshot: he became the first bowler to 200 T20I wickets, against Zimbabwe in October 2026, and his ODI tally stood at 237 wickets in 126 matches. Those figures are not mixed into the table above, which is the 15 August 2026 snapshot.
Kandahar Warriors. The Warriors picked him in the Afghan Icon category at the player draft in Dubai on 3 November 2026, and he captains the side, with Ravi Bopara as head coach and Irfan Pathan as mentor.
He captained Kabul Zwanan to the final and was named Player of the Series. In nine matches he scored 173 runs and took 10 wickets, with best figures of 4 for 20 in the semi-final against Paktia Panthers, where he also made 35 not out off 19 balls. Kabul lost the final to Balkh Legends by four wickets.
He is an all-rounder. He bats right-handed, usually late in an innings where he can hit freely, and bowls right-arm leg-break googly. He is Afghanistan's T20I captain and captains Kandahar Warriors in the APL.
He is the first bowler to 200 T20I wickets, reaching the mark against Zimbabwe in October 2026, and he holds the record for most wickets in men's T20I cricket, passing Tim Southee's 164 on 1 September 2025. He was also the fastest to 100 T20I wickets, in 53 matches, and was named the ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Decade for 2011 to 2020.
Sunrisers Hyderabad from 2017 to 2021, then Gujarat Titans from 2022, where he was vice-captain and won the title in his first season. Across his IPL career he has played 153 matches and taken 179 wickets, with best figures of 4 for 24.
