List of Afghanistan Twenty20 International cricket records

Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the highest T20 standard. The game is played under the rules of Twenty20 cricket. The first Twenty20 International match between two men's sides was played on 17 February 2005, involving Australia and New Zealand. Wisden Cricketers' Almanack reported that "neither side took the game especially seriously", and it was noted by ESPNcricinfo that but for a large score for Ricky Ponting, "the concept would have shuddered". However, Ponting himself said "if it does become an international game then I'm sure the novelty won't be there all the time". This is a list of Afghanistan Cricket team's Twenty20 International records. It is based on the List of Twenty20 International records, but concentrates solely on records dealing with the Afghan cricket team. Afghanistan played its first ever T20I in 2010.

Key
The top five records are listed for each category, except for the team wins, losses, draws and ties, all round records and the partnership records. Tied records for fifth place are also included. Explanations of the general symbols and cricketing terms used in the list are given below. Specific details are provided in each category where appropriate. All records include matches played for Afghanistan only, and are correct.

Team wins, losses, draws and ties
, Afghanistan has played 130 T20I matches resulting in 79 victories, 48 defeats, 2 ties and 0 no results for an overall winning percentage of 60.76.

Most runs in an innings
The highest innings total scored in T20Is has been scored twice. The first occasion came in the match between Afghanistan and Ireland when Afghanistan scored 278/3 in the 2nd T20I of the Ireland series in India in February 2019. The Czech Republic national cricket team against Turkey during the 2019 Continental Cup scored 278/4 to equal the record.

Fewest runs in an innings
The lowest innings total scored was by Turkey against Czech Republic when they were dismissed for 21 during the 2019 Continental Cup. The lowest score in T20I history for Afghanistan is 56 scored against South Africa in the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup semi-final.

Most runs conceded an innings
The final of the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier against the Ireland saw Afghanistan concede their highest innings total of 225/7.

Fewest runs conceded in an innings
The lowest score conceded by Afghanistan for a full inning is 56 when they dismissed Kenya during the Kenya v Afghanistan series in the UAE in September 2013 at Sharjah.

Most runs aggregate in a match
The highest match aggregate scored in T20Is came in the match between India and West Indies in the first T20I of the August 2016 series at Central Broward Regional Park, Lauderhill when India scored 244/4 in response to West Indies score of 245/6 to lose the match by 1 run. The 2nd T20I of the Ireland v Afghanistan series in India in February 2019 in Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun, India saw a total of 472 runs being scored.

Fewest runs aggregate in a match
The lowest match aggregate in T20Is is 57 when Turkey were dismissed for 28 by Luxembourg in the second T20I of the 2019 Continental Cup in Romania in August 2019. The lowest match aggregate in T20I history for Afghanistan is 146 scored during the final of the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge against Ireland when Afghanistan dismissed Ireland for 71 to win by 10 wickets.

Result records
A T20I match is won when one side has scored more runs than the runs scored by the opposing side during their innings. If both sides have completed both their allocated innings and the side that fielded last has the higher aggregate of runs, it is known as a win by runs. This indicates the number of runs that they had scored more than the opposing side. If the side batting last wins the match, it is known as a win by wickets, indicating the number of wickets that were still to fall.

Greatest win margins (by runs)
The greatest winning margin by runs in T20Is was Czech Republic's victory over Turkey by 257 runs in the sixth match of the 2019 Continental Cup. The largest victory recorded by Afghanistan was during the Kenya v Afghanistan series in the UAE in September 2013 by 106 runs.

Greatest win margins (by balls remaining)
The greatest winning margin by balls remaining in T20Is was Austria's victory over Turkey by 104 balls remaining in the ninth match of the 2019 Continental Cup. The largest victory recorded by Afghanistan is during the final of the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge against Ireland when they won by 10 wickets with 73 balls remaining.

Greatest win margins (by wickets)
A total of 22 matches have ended with chasing team winning by 10 wickets with New Zealand winning by such margins a record three times. Afghanistan have won a T20I match by this margin on one occasion.

Highest successful run chases
Australia holds the record for the highest successful run chase which they achieved when they scored 245/5/9 in response to New Zealand's 243/6. Afghanistan's highest innings total while chasing is 191/5 in a successful run chase against Zimbabwe at Bulawayo, Zimbabwe during the Afghanistan's tour of Zimbabwe in 2015.

Narrowest win margins (by runs)
The narrowest run margin victory is by 1 run which has been achieved in 15 T20I's with Afghanistan winning such games once.

Narrowest win margins (by balls remaining)
The narrowest winning margin by balls remaining in T20Is is by winning of the last ball which has been achieved 26 times. Afghanistan has yet to achieve victory of the last ball.

Narrowest win margins (by wickets)
The narrowest margin of victory by wickets is 1 wicket which has settled four such T20Is. The narrowest victory by wickets for Afghanistan is three wickets.

Greatest loss margins (by runs)
Afghanistan's biggest defeat by runs was against England in the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 at Ranasinghe Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Greatest loss margins (by balls remaining)
The largest defeat suffered by Afghanistan was against Bangladesh in Bangladesh during the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 when they lost by 9 wickets with 48 balls remaining.

Greatest loss margins (by wickets)
Afghanistan have lost a T20I match by a margin of 9 wickets on two occasions.

Narrowest loss margins (by runs)
The narrowest loss of Afghanistan in terms of runs is by 9 runs suffered against Nepal during the 2014 ICC World Twenty20.

Narrowest loss margins (by balls remaining)
Afghanistan has suffered loss by this margin once.

Narrowest loss margins (by wickets)
Afghanistan has suffered defeat by 4 wickets on three occasions.

Tied matches
A tie can occur when the scores of both teams are equal at the conclusion of play, provided that the side batting last has completed their innings. Afghanistan have been involved in 2 ties.

Most career runs
A run is the basic means of scoring in cricket. A run is scored when the batsman hits the ball with his bat and with his partner runs the length of 22 yards of the pitch. Mohammad Nabi is the leading Afghan batsmen on this list.

Highest individual score
The third T20I of the 2018 Zimbabwe Tri-Nation Series saw Aaron Finch score the highest Individual score. Hazratullah Zazai holds the Afghan record when he scored 162* against Ireland in the first T20I of the 2019 series.

Highest career average
A batsman's batting average is the total number of runs they have scored divided by the number of times they have been dismissed.

Most half-centuries
A half-century is a score of between 50 and 99 runs. Statistically, once a batsman's score reaches 100, it is no longer considered a half-century but a century.

Virat Kohli of India has scored the most half-centuries in T20Is with 24. He is followed by India's Rohit Sharma on 21, Ireland's Paul Stirling on 18 and Australia's David Warner on 17. Mohammad Shahzad is the Afghani batsmen with most half-centuries, 12.

Most centuries
A century is a score of 100 or more runs in a single innings.

Mohammad Shahzad, Hazratullah Zazai and Rahmanullah Gurbaz are the Afghani centurions with one century each.

Highest strike rates
Ravija Sandaruwan of Kuwait holds the record for highest strike rate, with minimum 250 balls faced qualification, with 165.80. Hazratullah Zazai is the Afghan with the highest strike rate.

Highest strike rates in an innings
Dwayne Smith of West Indies strike rate of 414.28 during his 29 off 7 balls against Bangladesh during 2007 ICC World Twenty20 is the world record for highest strike rate in an innings. Najibullah Zadran holds the top two positions for an Afghanistan player in this list.

Most runs in a calendar year
Paul Stirling of Ireland holds the record for most runs scored in a calendar year with 748 runs scored in 2019. Mohommad Shhazad scored 520 runs in 2016, the most for an Afghanistan batsmen in a year.

Most runs in a series
The 2014 ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh saw Virat Kohli set the record for the most runs scored in a single series scoring 319 runs. He is followed by Tillakaratne Dilshan with 317 runs scored in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20. Mohammad Shahzad has scored the most runs in a series for an Afghanistan batsmen, when he scored 222 runs in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20.

Most ducks
A duck refers to a batsman being dismissed without scoring a run. Tillakaratne Dilshan of Sri Lanka, Pakistan's Umar Akmal and Ireland's Kevin O'Brien has scored the equal highest number of ducks in T20Is with 10 such knocks. Afghanistan's Shafiqullah and Asghar Afghan with 5 ducks have the highest number of such knocks for Afghanistan.

Most career wickets
A bowler takes the wicket of a batsman when the form of dismissal is bowled, caught, leg before wicket, stumped or hit wicket. If the batsman is dismissed by run out, obstructing the field, handling the ball, hitting the ball twice or timed out the bowler does not receive credit.

Tim Southee of New Zealand, is the highest wicket-taker in T20Is. Afghansitan's Rashid Khan is third on the all-time.

Best figures in an innings
Bowling figures refers to the number of the wickets a bowler has taken and the number of runs conceded.

Best career average
A bowler's bowling average is the total number of runs they have conceded divided by the number of wickets they have taken. Nepalan's Sandeep Lamichhane holds the record for the best career average in T20Is with 12.56. Ajantha Mendis, Sri Lankan cricketer, is second behind Sandeep with an overall career average of 14.42 runs per wicket.

Best career economy rate
A bowler's economy rate is the total number of runs they have conceded divided by the number of overs they have bowled. New Zealand's Daniel Vettori, holds the T20I record for the best career economy rate with 5.70. Rashid Khan, with a rate of 6.14 runs per over conceded over his 47-match T20I career, is the highest Afghan on the list.

Best career strike rate
A bowler's strike rate is the total number of balls they have bowled divided by the number of wickets they have taken. The top bowler with the best T20I career strike rate is Rashid Khan of Afghanistan with strike rate of 12.3 balls per wicket.

Most four-wickets (& over) hauls in an innings
Pakistan's Umar Gul has taken the most four-wickets (or over) among all the bowlers. Rashid khan is the leading Afghan bowler with five such hauls.

Best economy rates in an inning
The best economy rate in an inning, when a minimum of 12 balls are delivered by the bowler, is Sri Lankan player Nuwan Kulasekara economy of 0.00 during his spell of 0 runs for 1 wicket in 2 overs against Netherlands at Zohur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20. Hamid Hassan holds the Afghan record during his spell in Kenya v Afghanistan Series at Sharjah, UAE.

Best strike rates in an inning
The best strike rate in an inning, when a minimum of 4 wickets are taken by the player, is by Steve Tikolo of Kenya during his spell of 4/2 in 1.2 overs against Scotland during the 2013 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier at ICC Academy, Dubai, UAE. Rashid Khan during his spell of 5/3 in two overs achieved the best strike rate for an Afghan bowler.

Worst figures in an innings
The worst figures in a T20I came in the Sri Lanka's tour of Australia when Kasun Rajitha of Sri Lanka had figures of 0/75 off his four overs at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide. The worst figures by an Afghan is 0/51 that came off the bowling of Rashid Khan in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 against South Africa at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai.

Most runs conceded in a match
Kasun Rajitha also holds the dubious distinction of most runs conceded in a T20I during the aforementioned match. Shapoor Zadran with figures of 1/60 off his four overs against Ireland in March 2017 holds the most runs conceded distinction for Afghanistan.

Most wickets in a calendar year
Australia's Andrew Tye holds the record for most wickets taken in a year when he took 31 wickets in 2018 in 19 T20Is. Rashid Khan took 23 wickets in 2016, the most for an Afghan bowler.

Most wickets in a series
2019 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier at UAE saw records set for the most wickets taken by a bowler in a T20I series when Oman's pacer Bilal Khan tool 18 wickets during the series. Mohammad Nabi in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 took 12 wickets, the most for an Afghan bowler in a series.

Hat-trick
In cricket, a hat-trick occurs when a bowler takes three wickets with consecutive deliveries. The deliveries may be interrupted by an over bowled by another bowler from the other end of the pitch or the other team's innings, but must be three consecutive deliveries by the individual bowler in the same match. Only wickets attributed to the bowler count towards a hat-trick; run outs do not count. In T20Is history there have been just 13 hat-tricks, the first achieved by Brett Lee for Australia against Bangladesh in 2007 ICC World Twenty20.

Wicket-keeping records
The wicket-keeper is a specialist fielder who stands behind the stumps being guarded by the batsman on strike and is the only member of the fielding side allowed to wear gloves and leg pads.

Most career dismissals
A wicket-keeper can be credited with the dismissal of a batsman in two ways, caught or stumped. A fair catch is taken when the ball is caught fully within the field of play without it bouncing after the ball has touched the striker's bat or glove holding the bat, Laws 5.6.2.2 and 5.6.2.3 state that the hand or the glove holding the bat shall be regarded as the ball striking or touching the bat while a stumping occurs when the wicket-keeper puts down the wicket while the batsman is out of his ground and not attempting a run. Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad is fifth in taking most dismissals in T20Is as a designated wicket-keeper with India's MS Dhoni and West Indian Denesh Ramdin heading the list.

Most career catches
Shahzad is eighth in taking most catches in T20Is as a designated wicket-keeper with Dhoni and Ramdin leading the all-time list.

Most career stumpings
Shahzad is fourth in making stumpings in T20Is as a designated wicket-keeper with Dhoni and Kamran Akmal of Pakistan heading this all-time list.

Most dismissals in an innings
Four wicket-keepers on four occasions have taken five dismissals in a single innings in a T20I. Mohammad Shahzad of Afghanistan has also achieved this feat.

The feat of taking 4 dismissals in an innings has been achieved by 19 wicket-keepers on 26 occasions.

Most dismissals in a series
Netherlands wicket-keeper Scott Edwards holds the T20Is record for the most dismissals taken by a wicket-keeper in a series. He made 13 dismissals during the 2019 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier. Afghan record is held by Shahzad when he made 7 dismissals during the 2017 Desert T20 Challenge.

Most career catches
Caught is one of the nine methods a batsman can be dismissed in cricket. The majority of catches are caught in the slips, located behind the batsman, next to the wicket-keeper, on the off side of the field. Most slip fielders are top order batsmen.

South Africa's David Miller holds the record for the most catches in T20Is by a non-wicket-keeper with 57, followed by Shoaib Malik of Pakistan on 50 and New Zealand's Martin Guptill with 47. Mohammad Nabi is the leading catcher for Afghanistan.

Most catches in an innings
The feat of taking 4 catches in an innings has been achieved by 14 fielders on 14 occasions. . No Afghan fielder has achieved this feat. The most is three catches on three occasions.

Most catches in a series
The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier, which saw Netherlands retain their title, saw the record set for the most catches taken by a non-wicket-keeper in a T20I series. Jersey's Ben Stevens and Namibia's JJ Smit took 10 catches in the series. Asghar Afghan, Mohammad Nabi and Shafiqullah with 5 catches in the same series are the leading Afghan fielders on this list.

Most career matches
Pakistan's Shoaib Malik holds the record for the most T20I matches played with 116, followed by Rohit Sharma of India with 108 and Ross Taylor of New Zealand with 102 games. Mohammad Nabi is the most experienced Afghanistan players having represented the team on 78 occasions.

Most consecutive career matches
Afghanistan's Mohammad Shahzad and Asghar Afghan hold the record for the most consecutive T20I matches played with 58.

Youngest players on Debut
The youngest player to play in a T20I match is Marian Gherasim at the age of 14 years and 16 days. Making his debut for Romania against the Bulgaria on 16 October 2020 in the first T20I of the 2020 Balkan Cup thus becoming the youngest to play in a men's T20I match.

Oldest Players on Debut
The Turkish batsmen Osman Göker is the oldest player to make their debut a T20I match. Playing in the 2019 Continental Cup against Romania at Moara Vlasiei Cricket Ground, Moara Vlăsiei he was aged 59 years and 181 days.

Oldest Players
The Turkish batsmen Osman Göker is the oldest player to appear in a T20I match during the same above mentioned match.

Partnership records
In cricket, two batsmen are always present at the crease batting together in a partnership. This partnership will continue until one of them is dismissed, retires or the innings comes to a close.

Highest partnerships by wicket
A wicket partnership describes the number of runs scored before each wicket falls. The first wicket partnership is between the opening batsmen and continues until the first wicket falls. The second wicket partnership then commences between the not out batsman and the number three batsman. This partnership continues until the second wicket falls. The third wicket partnership then commences between the not out batsman and the new batsman. This continues down to the tenth wicket partnership. When the tenth wicket has fallen, there is no batsman left to partner so the innings is closed.

Highest partnerships by runs
The highest T20I partnership by runs for any wicket is held by the Afghani pairing of Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani who put together an opening wicket partnership of 236 runs during the Ireland v Afghanistan series in India in 2019

Most matches umpired
An umpire in cricket is a person who officiates the match according to the Laws of Cricket. Two umpires adjudicate the match on the field, whilst a third umpire has access to video replays, and a fourth umpire looks after the match balls and other duties. The records below are only for on-field umpires.

Ahsan Raza of Pakistan holds the record for the most T20I matches umpired with 49. The most experienced Aghani umpire is Ahmed Shah Pakteen with 20 matches officiated so far.