Mohammad Shahzad

Mohammad Shahzad Mohammadi (born 10 January 1988) is a former Afghan cricketer.

He is a right-handed opening batsman and a wicketkeeper.

Shahzad was not part of Afghanistan's squad when they began to rise through international cricket tournaments in 2008, joining for the 2009 Cricket World Cup Qualifier in South Africa.

His strong performances in the tournament helped Afghanistan obtain One Day International status and he has been a regular part of their national team in all three formats of the game since then.

He made his international debut for Afghanistan in August 2009 against the Netherlands.

Shahzad first played first-class cricket for Afghanistan in the 2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup, the highest level of international cricket below Test cricket.

In August 2009, Shahzad made his first-class debut against a Zimbabwe XI at Mutare Sports Club, scoring 79 in his first ever first-class innings.

Shahzad played in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifiers, where Afghanistan gained ODI status after a win over Namibia in which Shahzad scored a decisive 73 runs.

Shahzad made his ODI debut during Afghanistan's tour to the Netherlands on 30 August 2009 at VRA Cricket Ground.

In the second match of the series, he made Afghan cricketing history by becoming the first Afghan to score a century in a One Day International match, scoring 110 runs as Afghanistan won the match by 6 wickets.

He played a key role in Afghanistan's win over Ireland, with scores of 88 and 42 not out, and in February 2010, he became the first Afghan to score a first-class double century when he scored 214 not out in Afghanistan's successful chase of 494 runs to beat Canada.

His other century for the tournament came in August 2010 against Scotland.

He scored 54 in the first innings as Afghanistan put on 435 runs, then scored rapidly in the second innings as Afghanistan asserted their dominance on the game.

Afghanistan did not declare until Shahzad reached his century, and he did so by hitting Moneeb Iqbal for six runs.

Shahzad scored a half-century in the Intercontinental Cup final against Scotland to give Afghanistan the title in their first year of participation.

He finished the tournament as the top run-scorer for both Afghanistan and the whole competition, with 802 runs at an average of 80.20, including two centuries and five half-centuries.

He was also the leading wicket-keeper, with 28 dismissals behind the wickets, including 25 catches and 3 stumpings.

As a result, he was one of four players from Afghanistan named in the team of the tournament.

Shahzad was a member of Afghanistan's 2010 ACC Trophy Elite winning squad, which defeated Nepal in the final by 95 runs.

In July 2010, Shahzad was part of Afghanistan's team in the 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One tournament, and he scored two half-centuries (both against the Netherlands) to help Afghanistan finish 3rd in the tournament, and another century in the first ODI of the series.

Shahzad scored a half-century in Afghanistan's opening match of the 2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup against Canada, but otherwise failed to have a major impact on the tournament.

He never again scored above 50 and finished with an average of just 23.81, though at the end of the tournament, he was named the team's new vice-captain.

In January 2012, Shahzad played in a side made up of some of the leading players from Associate and Affiliate teams called the ICC Combined Associate and Affiliate XI, which was put together to face England in Dubai.

The three-day match was part of England's preparation for a series against Pakistan later that month.

Along with Mohammad Nabi and Hameed Hasan, Shahzad was one of three Afghanistan players included in the 12-man squad.

During the match, he scored two half-centuries, and he was named the player of the match despite his team losing.

In August 2013, in a series against Namibia, Shahzad scored a century and a half-century in two wins.

Shahzad bounced back in the 2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup and scored his third and fourth first-class centuries against Papua New Guinea and Namibia respectively.

The century against Papua New Guinea saw Afghanistan overcome a 151-run first innings deficit to win by 201 runs, and the century against Namibia, for which Shahzad was named the player of the match, helped Afghanistan to an innings victory.

This was Afghanistan's final involvement in the Intercontinental Cup, as in 2017, they were granted full member status by the International Cricket Council and were automatically given Test status.

Shahzad was one of the eleven cricketers to play in Afghanistan's first Test match, against India, in June 2018.

Shahzad also has a rare record - scoring an ODI hundred in the lowest team score - by reaching an ODI century at a point when Afghanistan's score (against India in the Asia Cup 2018) was just 131, thus equalling Pakistan's Shahid Afridi's previous record.

Shahzad is from a Pashtun family originally from the majority Pashtun Nangarhar Province in Afghanistan, but they moved to a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan due to the war in Afghanistan.

Shahzad spent most of his early life in Peshawar and was married in Peshawar.

He was still living in Peshawar as a temporary resident in 2018, prompting the Afghanistan Cricket Board to request he relocate to Afghanistan.

In May 2018, Shahzad was named in Afghanistan's squad for their inaugural Test match played against India.

He made his Test debut for Afghanistan, against India, on 14 June 2018.

Muhammad Shahzad opened the batting for Afghanistan and scored 14 and 13 runs in the two innings, respectively.

Afghanistan lost the one-sided Test within two days.

In February 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's Test squad for their one-off match against Ireland in India.