Afghanistan's Hashmatullah Shahidi hammers his maiden ODI hundred
What's the story
Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi has raced to his maiden hundred in ODI cricket. The southpaw truly played a captain's knock against India in the third and final ODI at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. Batting at four, Shahidi batted with tremendous character, helping Afghanistan recover from early setbacks. Here we look at his record and stats.
Knock
A captain's hand from Shahidi
Prasidh Krishna struck four times in the powerplay, reducing the batting team to 36/4. Despite the early blows, Shahidi and all-rounder Azmatullah Omarzai (50) steadied the ship for Afghanistan. The duo put on a solid 105-run stand for the fifth wicket before Omarzai was dismissed. Shahidi continued to bat aggressively despite the fall of wickets at the other end. He brought up his maiden ODI century before going down as the last man. His efforts powered Afghanistan to a total of 218/10.
Milestone
Shahidi owns over 2,600 ODI runs
Shahidi scored a brilliant 102 runs off 131 balls, having hit 13 fours and a six. The veteran now has 23 scores of 50 or more in ODIs. With his efforts in Chennai, the star batter has raced to 2,607 runs from 96 matches at an average of 33.42 (SR: 67.80). He is only behind Rahmat Shah (4,121), Mohammad Nabi (3,792), and Mohammad Shahzad (2,727) in terms of ODI runs for Afghanistan.
Unique list
Longest wait for an ODI century by an Afghan batter
Shahidi has been a mainstay in Afghanistan's ODI squad since making his debut in 2013. However, it took him until 2026 to score his first ODI century, coming after playing 94 innings. This is the longest any Afghan batter has taken to score their maiden ODI ton. As per Cricbuzz, Shahidi took 4,644 days to score his first ODI century, which is the fourth-longest wait for any batter in the world.
Information
Second 50-plus score versus India
This was Shahidi's second 50-plus score across six ODIs against India. He had scored an 80 against the Men in Blue in the 2023 ODI World Cup in Delhi. Meanwhile, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Mohammad Shahzad are the only other Afghan batters with ODI hundreds against India.