Zahir Khan (Afghan cricketer)


Zahir Khan is an Afghan cricketer. He made his Test match debut for the Afghanistan cricket team in September 2019. He made his first-class debut for Afghanistan against Papua New Guinea in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup on 21 November 2015. He played for the Afghanistan U-19 team in the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Domestic career

He made his List A debut for Band-e-Amir Region in the 2017 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 10 August 2017. Along with Karim Janat, he was the joint-leading wicket-taker in the tournament, with twelve dismissals. He made his Twenty20 debut for Mis Ainak Knights in the 2017 Shpageeza Cricket League on 12 September 2017.
In August 2018, he joined the English side Lancashire for the rest of the season. He was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, with thirty dismissals in five matches.

T20 franchise career

In September 2018, he was named in Nangarhar's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Khulna Titans team, following the draft for the 2018–19 Bangladesh Premier League.

International career

In December 2017, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. In January 2018, he was bought by the Rajasthan Royals in the 2018 IPL auction. In December 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's under-23 team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.
In May 2018, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for their inaugural Test match, played against India, but he was not selected for the match.
In February 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's One Day International and Twenty20 International squads for their series against Ireland in India. He made his ODI debut for Afghanistan against Ireland on 10 March 2019. Following the conclusion of the ODI series, he was added to Afghanistan's Test squad, for the one-off match against Ireland, but he did not play.
In August 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's Test squad for their one-off match against Bangladesh. He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, in the one-off match against Bangladesh, on 5 September 2019.