Hashmatullah Shahidi becomes the first Afghan cricketer to score 200 runs in Test cricket
Hashmatullah Shahidi became the first cricketer from Afghanistan to register a double century in Test cricket. The 26-year-old reached the landmark in the ongoing 2nd Test against Zimbabwe.
Coming into bat at number four in the first innings of the game, Shahidi dominated right from the start. The left-hander put on a fine display of Test cricket batting and showed great resilience.
Hashmatullah Shahidi found a wonderful partner in the form of Asghar Afghan during his 200+ knock. The Afghanistan skipper was involved in a 307-run partnership with Shahidi and was the aggressor in the partnership.
Asghar Afghan mustered 164 runs before he got out to a delivery from Sikander Raza. Afghanistan declared their innings at 545/4 immediately after Hashmatullah Shahidi reached the 200-run mark.
Two 100+ scores for Afghanistan in the same game
Afghanistan failed to put on a good show with the bat in the first Test of the series and ended up losing the match by 10 wickets. However, making amends in the second game, their batsmen stepped up to the occasion.
Opener Ibrahim Zadran provided them with a fine start (72 runs off 130 balls). However, his partner Javed Ahmadi was dismissed for only 4 runs. Rahmat Shah then entered the game and was involved in a mix-up before returning to the pavilion after being run-out for just 23 runs.
Things seemed ominous for Afghanistan at 56/2. However, the efforts of Ibrahim Zadran, Hashmatullah Shahidi, Asghar Afghan and Nasir Jamal (55* off 91 balls) helped them post a big total.
Before the game, Rahmat Shah was the only Afghanistan batsman to register a century in Test cricket. On a couple of other occasions, Shah and Asghar managed to get into the 90s but failed to reach the double-figure mark.
After their strong performances in the ongoing Test, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Asghar Afghan are now the top-two run-scorers in an innings for Afghanistan.