While Rashid Khan made debut as the Test captain, Afghanistan impressed in the only Test against the hosts Bangladesh and clinched their second Test victory. During this Test match, Rashid Khan made some top records as a captain after providing his top all-round performances.
It was the only third Test for Afghanistan. They played their first Test in June 2018 against India at Bengaluru which they lost by an innings and 262 runs. In last March, Afghanistan played their second Test match against Ireland at Dehradun and claimed their first-ever Test victory after winning that game by seven wickets.
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Afghanistan registered their second Test victory after beating Bangladesh in their latest contest by 224 runs at Chattogram. With the help of Rahmat Shah‘ century (102 runs) and Asghar Afghan‘s 92 runs, Afghanistan scored 342 runs in the first innings. Rahmat Shah became the first Afghanistan cricketer to score a Test century.
In reply, the hosts Bangladesh managed to score 205 runs in their first innings. The visitors scored 260 runs in their second innings and put the fourth-innings target of 398 runs for the hosts. In this rain-interrupted game, Afghanistan finally bundled out Bangladesh for just 173 runs and secured a historic victory.
It was the first Test captaincy for Rashid Khan. In this game, the 20-year-old leg-spinner dominated with the ball as he had the bowling figures of 19.5-3-55-5 and 21.4-6-49-6. His match bowling figures were 41.3-9-104-11. Also, he shined with the bat as he scored 51 and 24 runs in this Test. Due to his brilliant all-round performances, captain Rashid Khan won the Player of the Match award.
Here are some special stats of Rashid Khan which he achieved during this Chattogram Test.
i) Rashid Khan (20 years and 350 days) became the youngest captain to lead a Test side. The previous record-holder was Tatenda Taibu who led the Zimbabwe team for the first time at the age of 20 years and 358 days (against Sri Lanka at Harare in May 2004).
ii) Rashid Khan (20 years and 351 days) became the youngest Test captain to register a 50+ score. The previous record-holder was the former Zimbabwean captain Tatenda Taibu (21 years and 239 days) when he scored 92 runs against Bangladesh at Chattogram in January 2005.
iii) Rashid Khan (20 years and 352 days) is the youngest Test captain to claim a five-wicket haul in a Test innings. The previous record-holder was the former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis (22 years and 19 days). During that record, Younis managed the bowling figures of 7/91 against Zimbabwe at Karachi in December 1993.
iv) Rashid Khan (20 years and 354 days) became the youngest Test captain to claim two five-wicket hauls in a Test match. The previous record-holder was the former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis (22 years and 20 days). Younis achieved that record after managing the bowling figures of 7/91 and 6/44 against Zimbabwe at Karachi in December 1993.
v) Rashid Khan (20 years and 354 days) became the youngest Test captain to claim a ten-wicket haul in a Test match. The previous record-holder was once again the former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis (22 years and 20 days).
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vi) Rashid Khan became the only second Test captain to register at least one 50+ score and also managed two five-wicket hauls in a Test match. Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan was the first Test captain to achieve this feat. In January 1983, against India at Faisalabad, Imran Khan scored 117 runs and also managed the bowling figures of 6/98 and 5/82. Meanwhile, the former Australian captain Allan Border was the only other captain to register one 50+ score and also manage a ten-wicket haul in the same game. Against West Indies at Sydney in January 1989, Border scored 75 runs and his match bowling figures were 11/96. However, it wasn’t the two five-wicket hauls in that Test match (7/46 & 4/50).
vii) Rashid Khan (20 years and 354 days) became the youngest captain to win a Test match. Once again the former Pakistan captain Waqar Younis (22 years and 20 days) was the previous record holder. Younis achieved that feat after Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 131 runs at Karachi in December 1993.