Afsar Khan Zazai ( ps, افسر ځاځی; born 10 August 1993) is an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. Afsar is a right-handed

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

batsman who is known for his batting skills. He was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first ever

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

, against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, in June 2018. He is the first Test cap for Afghanistan.

International career

He effected nine dismissals in six games at the Under-19 World Cup qualifiers in September 2009. He was just 16 when he was included in the Afghanistan squad for 2010 Under-19s World Cup in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In 2012, he played second Under-19s World Cup in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He was just 18 when he made his first-class debut for

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

in an Intercontinental Cup match in

Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital o ...

. In second innings he scored unbeaten 84 in three wicket win over

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

were favorites to win when they had reduced

to 111 for 6 in their chase of 233 on the second day. But Zazai did not give up and along with

Mohammad Nabi Mohammad Nabi Eisakhil ( ps, ; born 1 January 1985) is an Afghan cricketer and former captain of the Afghanistan national cricket team. Nabi is an attacking batting all-rounder, playing as a right-handed batsman and off b ...

’s 25 and

Samiullah Shenwari Samiullah Shinwari ( ps, سميع الله شينواري; born 31 December 1987) is an Afghan cricketer who represents Afghanistan in international level. He is a right-handed batsman and part-time leg break bowler. He made his international ...

’s 20 not out took Afghanistan to second position on the points table behind

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Afsar added 76 with Nabi and an unbroken 46 for the eighth wicket with Shenwari. He hit 13 boundaries in his unbeaten innings of 84 from 156 deliveries. Though Nabi fell to

Michael Swart Michael Richard Swart (born 1 October 1982) is a former Australian professional cricketer who played international cricket for the Netherlands national cricket team between 2011 and 2016. He was born in Australia and also played for Western Aust ...

with the score on 187, Shenwari supported Afsar as he carried

to the target. He made his

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

debut for Afghanistan against the United Arab Emirates on 28 November 2014. In March 2017, he scored his maiden first-class century, when Afghanistan faced

in round five of the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup. In September 2018, he was named in Kabul's squad in the

first edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

of the

Afghanistan Premier League The Afghanistan Premier League (APL) ( ps, ; fa, ), officially Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 cricket franchise tournament run by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), held in the United Arab Emira ...

tournament. In May 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for their inaugural

, played against India. He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, against India, on 14 June 2018. In September 2021, he was named as one of two travelling reserves in Afghanistan's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zazai, Afsar 1993 births Living people Cricketers from Kabul Afghan cricketers Afghanistan Test cricketers Afghanistan One Day International cricketers Afghanistan Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Band-e-Amir Dragons cricketers Kabul Zwanan cricketers Wicket-keepers