In Afghanistan’s captaincy debacle this year, Rahmat Shah unwittingly led the side in no Tests after being named captain. That’s right. After he was named in their leadership reshuffle in April, Rashid Khan replaced him in July. Going by what he achieved today in Chattogram, becoming Afghanistan’s first Test centurion, even a bit of regret of losing the phantom captaincy must have diminished.
Rahmat’s 163-ball innings was an example of how he can balance between batting patiently and pouncing on the bad balls. He dragged the side out of trouble in the early part of the second session, and then slowly raised their total. After his dismissal shortly after the tea break, Asghar Afghan thwarted another batting collapse and took them to safety.
After his hundred today, he said that the 102 also helped him overcome the grief of falling on 98 in their last Test, against Ireland in Dehradun. Rahmat said that he had to adjust to the Bangladesh spinners’ lengths, which forced him to use his crease, apart from defending well off the front foot.
“I was dreaming to become the first century-maker for Afghanistan,” Rahmat said. “When I got out for 98 against Ireland, I was really upset. Today I got the chance to score the hundred. It is a proud moment for me. I also got the first Test fifty for Afghanistan and now I am the first century-maker.
“They were bowling well so it was my plan to play off the front foot. They had a good field setup for me. I was forced to use the crease as well, as there wasn’t a lot of run-scoring opportunity. We know they are good spinners, especially Shakib Al Hasan. Mehidy Hasan and Taijul Islam. We had a mindset for the fast bowlers, but they have spinners.”
Rahmat said that they have to use experience from Intercontinental Cup to fill in for their lack of Test exposure. “We have played a lot of limited-overs cricket but we have also played a lot of matches in the Intercontinental Cup. We have won it twice. There’s not a big difference between four- and five-day cricket,” he said.
Batsmen like Rahmat, Afghan and Hashmatullah Shahidi will slowly break the mould of the happy-go-lucky nature of Afghan batting. With batting stability, their bowling attack will become more potent. Rahmat is a definite batting match-winner, and he has proven so for the last three years. Sixteen out of his 21 fifty-plus scores have come in Afghanistan’s wins in international cricket.
His 98 and 76 played a big part during their maiden Test win against Ireland, while his 72 helped them to their first win over Sri Lanka last year in the Asia Cup. He struck fifties against West Indies in the World Cup qualifier last year too, as well as big performances against Ireland and Zimbabwe in 2017.
He made an unbeaten 108 in the fifth ODI against Ireland in Noida, having made 78 and 68 in the previous matches. Against Zimbabwe in the same year, Rahmat had scores of 114, 56 and 59.
Yet, you don’t hear much about him. He isn’t a T20 regular like Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, or isn’t a larger than life character like Mohammad Shahzad. Without taking away any credit from the trio who undoubtedly have made massive contributions to Afghanistan cricket, the likes of Ramat Shah are like the building blocks in a team’s overall development.
Rahmat has etched his name forever in Afghanistan cricket team’s history, and given how he bats so responsibly at No 3, and takes care of their top order, the milestone couldn’t have gone to a more appropriate batsman.