Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi broke the Afghanistan record twice in three days

Rahmat Shah became only the second double centurion from Afghanistan, setting a new national record during the first Test against Zimbabwe. Two days later, Hashmatullah Shahidi broke his record to reclaim the top spot.

Rahmat put on a 364-run stand with Hashmatullah Shahidi for the third wicket, the other Afghanistan Test double centurion, as the visitors put up a strong fightback to Zimbabwe's first-innings score of 586. Rahmat eventually departed on 234, breaking Shahidi's all-time record for Afghanistan. Two days later, Shahidi reclaimed the record by going past Rahmat.

Rahmat also became the first Afghanistan player to hit multiple hundreds in Test cricket, before he was joined on that list by Shahidi. Shahidi went on to become the first-ever Afghanistan player to hit two double centuries in Test cricket, having hit an unbeaten 200* against the same opponent in the 2021 Abu Dhabi Test.

The third day was also first time since 2019 that a whole day's play went without a wicket being taken.

With rain affecting the fourth day, Afghanistan continued the grind well into day five. Wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai took the centurion count in the match up to six with his 113 at No.5. At lunch on day five, Shahidi was unbeaten on 236, with Afghanistan on 656-4, a lead of 70 runs.

Match 1st Test, Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan

Recent
Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan | Afghanistan tour of Zimbabwe, 2024/25 | 1st Test
Queens Sports Club, Bulawayo
Thursday, December 26th, 2024 08:00am (UTC:+0000)
ZIM Zimbabwe
ZIM Zimbabwe
586
(135.2) RR: 4.33
142/4
(34.0) RR: 4.18

    vs

    AFG Afghanistan
    AFG Afghanistan
    699
    (197.0) RR: 3.55

      Highest individual score for each team, full list

      Player Score Team Year
      Brian Lara 400 West Indies 2004
      Matthew Hayden 380 Australia 2003
      Mahela Jayawardene 374 Sri Lanka 2006
      Len Hutton 364 England 1938
      Hanif Mohammad 337 Pakistan 1958
      Virender Sehwag 319 India 2008
      Hashim Amla 311* South Africa 2012
      Brendon McCullum 302 New Zealand 2014
      Dave Houghton 266 Zimbabwe 1994
      Hashmatullah Shahidi 236* Afghanistan 2024
      Mushfiqur Rahim 219* Bangladesh 2018
      Kevin O'Brien 118 Ireland 2018

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