New Delhi: The sensational Afghanistan leggie Rashid Khan who recently became World's No.1 ODI and Twenty20 International bowler is breaking records one after the other. Aged 19, highly-rated spinner is now all set to become the youngest captain in the history of international cricket.
Rashid will be leading his national side after regular skipper Asghar Stanikzai was diagnosed with appendicitis.
"The doctors have advised that he will be able to return to cricket in approximately 10 days. Current vice-captain Rashid Khan will lead the team in his absence," Afghan Cricket Board said in a press statement.
Rashid who hails from Nangarhar province in war-torn Afghanistan has made sensational rise in international arena in past two years. At 19 years and 160 days he has surpassed Rajin Saleh who was handed over the captaincy of Bangladesh national team at age 20. Even Indian legend Nawab Pataudi was 21 years 77 days old when he was handed captaincy duties.
In women’s cricket too, no player younger than Rashid has lead their national side. England’s Arran Bindle was the youngest player at the age of 19 years and 260 days to lead the team in women’s cricket.
Under the captaincy of Rashid Afghanistan will travel to Bulawayo for the group-stage matches of the ICC World Cup Qualifier.
Afghanistan is scheduled to take on Scotland on March 4 where they launch their campaign for qualification to the 2019 World Cup.
Last week, Rashid became the youngest player to be ranked No.1 in the ICC's Player Rankings across formats.
The leg-spinner has so far taken 86 wickets from 37 ODIs and 47 wickets from 29 T20Is.