Ziaur Rahman Sharifi achieved what no Afghanistan bowler had done in the past, as he took a seven-wicket haul while making his Test debut against Zimbabwe. Ziaur bettered the milestones of India legend Ravi Ashwin and Australia skipper Pat Cummins.
Afghanistan’s Ziaur Rahman Sharifi etches his name into the history books after taking seven wickets on debut in his team’s only Test against Zimbabwe. Making his debut in the clash at the Harare Sports Club, the right-arm quick Ziaur Sharifi took 7/97 in his 32 overs.
While the speedster took seven wickets, the Zimbabwe batters – led by centurion Ben Curran – scored 359 in their first innings in reply to Afghanistan’s 127. Despite this, the 27-year-old debutant has created a major record.
Ziaur Sharifi has achieved the best bowling figures by an Afghanistan bowler on Test debut, shattering the previous record held by Amir Hamza, who had taken 5/74 on his debut against the West Indies in Lucknow in 2019.
Best bowling figures for Afghanistan on Test debut:
1 – Ziaur Rahman Sharifi: 7/97 in ZIM vs AFG Harare Test in 2025
2 – Amir Hamza: 5/74 in AFG vs WI Lucknow Test in 2019
3 – Nijat Masood: 5/79 in BAN vs AFG Mirpur Test in 2023
4 – Naveed Zadran: 4/83 in SL vs AFG Colombo Test in 2024
5 – Yamin Ahmadzai: 3/51 in IND vs AFG Bengaluru Test in 2018
Ziaur betters Ashwin, Cummins record
Meanwhile, Ziaur has even better bowling figures on debut than India legend Ravichandran Ashwin and Australia’s talismanic captain Pat Cummins. Ashwin had taken 6/47 on his Test debut against the West Indies in November 2011, while Cummins took 6/79 on his first appearance for the Aussies against South Africa in 2011.
Ziaur Rahman third best among Asians
Ziaur’s 7/97 are the third-best bowling figures by an Asian bowler on Test debut. He is only behind former India spinner Narendra Hirwani (8/61) and ex-Pakistan speedster Mohammad Zahid (7/66) on the list.ย
Coming to the match, Zimbabwe ended the second day pretty strongly after reducing Afghanistan to 34/1 with Richard Ngarava taking the only wicket that fell in the second innings on Day 2.ย
Zimbabwe had hit 359 in the first innings with Sam Curran’s brother Ben Curran scoring his maiden Test century. Sikandar Raza also made a strong 88-ball 65, while Brad Evans – the speedster who took a fifer in the first innings – scored an unbeaten 35 from 48 deliveries.