Rashid Khan, the leading wicket-taker in T20 cricket, achieved the feat in international T20Is as well as he dismantled the UAE with a three-fer alongside Sharafuddin Ashraf in the ongoing tri-series. Afghanistan opened their account on Monday, after losing to Pakistan in the first match.
Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan became the leading wicket-taker in T20Is following a three-wicket haul in a match-winning cause for his side against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Sharjah on Monday, September 1. Rashid, who came into the tri-series needing four wickets to leapfrog Tim Southee to the record, has done so in the first two matches themselves with a solitary wicket against Pakistan in the opener, followed by a three-fer against the hosts.
Rashid, who is already the leading wicket-taker in all T20 cricket (664), now has 165 scalps in international T20 cricket, one more than former Kiwi pacer Southee. Ish Sodhi (150) and Mustafizur Rahman (142) are the only active players on the list chasing Rashid for the record, but the Afghan skipper is head and shoulders ahead of anyone at the moment.
Most wickets in T20Is
165 – Rashid Khan (Afghanistan), in 98 innings
164 – Tim Southee (New Zealand), in 123 innings
150 – Ish Sodhi (New Zealand), in 121ย innings
149ย – Shakib Al Hasan (Bangladesh), in 126ย innings
142ย – Mustafizur Rahman (Bangladesh), in 112ย innings
It was a good all-round performance from Afghanistan, though, to come back after suffering a heavy loss at the hands of Pakistan in the opening game. The UAE opted to bowl first and it worked out rather well for Afghanistan in the end as Sediqullah Atal and Ibrahim Zadran stroked impressive half-centuries before Azmatullah Omarzai and Karim Janat provided the photo-finish with cameos, scoring 43 off just 22 balls cumulatively.
188 was always going to be a tricky total as the UAE would have hoped a couple of their batters in the top order to notch up big scores and then set it up for the middle order. However, Afghanistan backed up their batters with an outstanding bowling performance. Fazalhaq Farooqi and Sharafuddin Ashraf began the procession for Rashid Khan to eat up the middle-order.ย
Captain Muhammad Waseem and Rahul Chopra actually did the first task well, scoring respective fifties; however and the middle and lower order couldn’t front up to sustained pressure from Rashid and Co and the UAE succumbed to their second successive defeat while Afghanistan earned their first points.
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