Afghanistan Spinner Rashid Khan Smashes Record, Becomes Fastest to 100 ODI Wickets

Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan became the fastest bowler to pick 100 ODI wickets on Thursday as he picked up Shai Hope's wicket in the ICC World Cup Qualifier.


Khan achieved the feat in just 44 ODI matches, comfortable surpassing Australian pacer Mitchell Starc who reached the landmark in 52 matches.

The No 2 ranked ODI bowler, had Shai Hope lbw for 23 with the last ball of his third over during Sunday’s final of ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier in Harare, which helped him achieve the landmark.

The leg-spinner was crucial for Afghanistan in their previous game against Ireland, which was a virtual play-off to seal the World Cup spot.



The team had lost their opening World Cup Qualifier group games to Zimbabwe, Scotland and Hong Kong, but managed to sneak through to the Super Six stage. They beat West Indies, UAE and Ireland to secure their place in Sunday’s final and also 2019 Cricket World Cup.

The 19-year-old has taken the game by storm ever since his debut in 2015 and has been a key player in Afghanistan's rise in cricket, where the team has achieved a Test status.

They will take on India in their first Test in June 2018 in Bengaluru

Dennis Lillee was the first to breach the milestone of 100 ODI wickets, achieving the feat in his 60th match. He held that record for almost ten years before Waqar Younis broke it through one lesser match, in 1993. His fellow teammate Saqlain Mushtaq, who was just over 20 years at the time, snatched the record from Waqar , needing just 53 matches. He held the record for almost two decades before Mitchell Starc wrested it away a couple of years ago.

Rashid was just 17 years old when he made his debut in Zimbabwe in October 2015 and ever since, everything he has touched has turned gold. He is the youngest to both 50 and 100 ODI wickets, as well as the first player to take 100 wickets before turning 20.

Youngest to 100 ODI wickets

Player	Team	Age	ODIs	Date	Days from debut
Rashid Khan	Afg	19y 186d	44	25 Mar 18	890
Saqlain Mushtaq	Pak	20y 134d	53	12 May 97	592
Abdul Razzaq	Pak	20y 333d	69	30 Oct 00	1460
Waqar Younis	Pak	21y 77d	59	1 Feb 93	1207
Irfan Pathan	Ind	21y 174d	59	19 Apr 06	832
Shahid Afridi	Pak	21y 330d	139	25 Jan 02	1942

Rashid is the quickest to 100 wickets, not only in terms of the number of matches played but also on the count of the number of balls taken to reach the milestone. It has taken him just 2139 deliveries to capture 100 wickets, better than the second-placed Starc who required 2452 balls. Rashid has a 2.33 wickets-per-ODI ratio which makes him only the second player (minimum 50 wickets) to have a wickets-per-ODI ratio above two, the other being Pakistan's Hasan Ali (2.07).

Fewest balls to 100 ODI wickets

Player	Team	Balls taken	ODIs	Date	Avg	SR
Rashid Khan	Afg	2181	44	25 Mar 18	14.40	21.8
Mitchell Starc	Aus	2474	52	21 Aug 16	19.52	24.5
Shane Bond	NZ	2743	54	11 Jan 02	19.52	27.1
Shoaib Akhtar	Pak	2755	60	21 Apr 02	19.64	26.2
Saqlain Mushtaq	Pak	2797	53	12 May 97	19.25	27.7
Waqar Younis	Pak	2858	59	1 Feb 93	19.40	28.3
Brett Lee	Aus	2864	55	25 Jan 03	22.48	28.7

** All stats at the end of the innings where the bowler captured his 100th wkt

Despite all his achievements, it remains a travesty that he is yet to play an ODI against the top-ranked teams. Nearly three-fourth of his career ODIs have come either against Zimbabwe or Ireland. He has taken 40 scalps from 18 matches against Zimbabwe, and 33 from 13 against Ireland. He has done well in the limited opportunities against Windies as well, with his 7 for 18 in Gros Islet last year the fourth-best individual figures in ODI cricket.

Record against oppositions

Opposition	Mat	Wkts	Avg	SR	ER	Best
Bangladesh	3	7	15.85	25.70	3.70	3/35
Hong Kong	1	0	-	-	3.90	-
Ireland	13	33	15.15	22.00	4.12	6/43
Scotland	3	3	29.00	30.00	5.80	2/19
UAE	1	5	8.20	10.80	4.55	5/41
Windies	5	12	9.75	18.80	3.10	7/18
Zimbabwe	18	40	13.62	21.10	3.87	5/24

Rashid possesses all the tricks in his bag - the big spinning leg break, the flipper, the slider, the top spinner and a variety of googlies delivered from different points - and it is no surprise that he picks a large chunk of his wickets, either bowled the batsmen out or trapping them leg before. He trapped 35 batsmen in front of the wicket and breached the defenses 21 times, to have an astounding 56 per cent of wickets coming from these two modes of dismissals. Among bowlers with at least 75 ODI wickets, only Mohammad Hafeez has a higher percentage of wickets in these two modes of dismissal - 77 out of 136 wickets giving him a percentage of 56.62.


Fewest ODIs to 100 wickets

Player	Team	ODIs	Date	Avg	Balls taken	Days from debut
Rashid Khan	Afg	44	25 Mar 18	14.40	2181	890
Mitchell Starc	Aus	52	21 Aug 16	19.52	2474	2133
Saqlain Mushtaq	Pak	53	12 May 97	19.25	2797	592
Shane Bond	NZ	54	11 Jan 02	19.52	2743	1839
Brett Lee	Aus	55	25 Jan 03	22.48	2864	1113
Trent Boult	NZ	56	23 Dec 17	25.21	3048	1992
Imran Tahir	SA	58	15 Jun 16	22.75	3075	1939