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Rahmat Shah Makes History as First Afghan in ICC Test Top 10Sports
Afghanistan captain Rahmat Shah has climbed to seventh in the ICC Test batting rankings after his career-best 173 against Zimbabwe, a first for his country.
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Afghanistan captain Rahmat Shah has become the first player from his country to break into the top 10 of the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings, climbing six places to seventh among Test batters in the latest update released on Wednesday, 11 November. The 33-year-old reached a career-best rating of 735 points after his innings of 173 in the opening Test of Afghanistan’s two-match series against Zimbabwe in Sharjah.
The innings was Rahmat’s fifth Test century and his second of the year, and it carried him past several established names in the rankings, including India captain Shubman Gill, South Africa opener Aiden Markram and Sri Lanka batter Kamindu Mendis. His 173 was also a career-best score, made over a long stay at the crease in a high-scoring match that ended in a draw after both sides passed 500 in their first innings.
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A good fortnight for Afghanistan
The ranking milestone caps a strong few weeks for Afghanistan’s cricketers. Earlier in November, the country’s one-day side rose to sixth in the ICC Men’s ODI Team Rankings, its highest-ever position, after winning a tri-series against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh. Rahmat, who captains Afghanistan in both Test and one-day cricket, has been at the centre of that rise.
He was not the only Afghanistan batter to make gains from the Sharjah Test. Sediqullah Atal moved up 14 places to 81st in the Test batting rankings after scoring 105, reaching a career-best 414 rating points, while Rahmanullah’s debut innings of 113 lifted him to joint-83rd. Zimbabwe veteran Craig Ervine also climbed nine spots to 48th after an unbeaten double-century in the second innings of the drawn match.
The ICC updates its player rankings after each series, using a points system that rates batters, bowlers and all-rounders across the formats. Breaking into the top 10 is a landmark for a player from a country that only gained Test status in 2017 and still plays most of its home matches at neutral venues. For Afghanistan, whose rise in white-ball cricket has been rapid, Rahmat’s achievement is the clearest sign yet that its Test batting is catching up.
The second Test of the series against Zimbabwe will give Rahmat the chance to build on the ranking, and to push towards the top five. For now, though, the seventh place he holds is already a piece of history: no Afghanistan player, batter or bowler, had ever reached the top 10 of any category in the ICC Men’s Test Player Rankings before.
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