Afghanistan batsman Rahmat Shah on Thursday became the first Afghanistan player to score a century in Test cricket and in the process, joined an elite Test club of players to have scored the first centuries for their respective countries. Rahmat reached the three-figure mark on the opening day of Afghanistan’s only Test against Bangladesh in Chittagong. He scored 102 off 187 balls before being dismissed by Nayeem Hasan.
Afghanistan won the toss and chose to bat first in Chittagong. Rahmat came into the middle in the 13th over after the dismissal of opener Ihsanullah. He went on to put on a 120-run stand with former skipper Asghar Afghan.
At the end of the first session, Rahmat was on 97. He finally crossed the coveted mark with a four off Nayeem Hassan. However, he went for a loose drive off the next ball and got a thick edge that was grabbed by Soumya Sarkar at first slip.
Rahmat had previously scored 98 in Afghanistan’s last Test against Ireland in Dehradun. His ton means that all 12 Test playing countries now have a centurion. The only team to have played Test cricket and not had a centurion is the World XI that was put together with Graeme Smith as captain for a lone Test against Australia in 2005. Virender Sehwag’s 76 was the highest score for them in that match.
Earlier, Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan became the youngest player ever to captain a test team when he led his side in their one-off match against Bangladesh in Chattogram.
Aged 20 years and 350 days when he walked out for the toss on the first day, Rashid broke a 15-year record held by former Zimbabwe wicketkeeper Tatenda Taibu, who was eight days older when he led his side against Sri Lanka in Harare in 2004.
Rashid was appointed Afghanistan’s captain across all three formats of the game in July after the team’s dismal performance at the 50-over World Cup, where they lost all nine of their group matches and finished at the bottom of the standings. Rahmat Shah, who was appointed test captain in April but replaced before he had the chance to lead the side, became the first Afghanistan player to score a test century when he hit 102 while
former captain Asghar Afghan was unbeaten on 88.