Afghans painted in red, green and black cheered from the sidelines of the Champions Trophy cricket in Lahore and from in front of their televisions in Kabul on Wednesday, brushing aside calls for England to boycott the match.
The 26-year-old MI Cape Town spinner went past Dwayne Bravo's tally of 631 wickets when he bowled Dunith Wellalage in the SA20 qualifier 1 against Paarl Royals on Tuesday.
Leg-spinner Rashid Khan took six wickets in a row to put Afghanistan on the verge of victory in the series-deciding second Test against Zimbabwe in Bulawayo on Sunday.
The 26-year-old missed Afghanistan's most recent Test matches on medical advice to heal a back injury for which he underwent surgery earlier this year.
Both cricketers took to X to urge the Taliban to reconsider their stance and restore Afghan girls' right to education, enabling them to contribute to the nation’s development.
Three of Rashid's brothers also tied the knot on the same night.
Aiden Markram's calm innings helped South Africa avoid suffering a series clean sweep by Afghanistan with a seven-wicket victory in the third one-day international in Sharjah on Sunday.
The win sealed the series for Afghanistan, who had registered a first ever triumph over South Africa in the format after winning the opening ODI on Wednesday by six wickets.
Afghanistan registered another emphatic victory over South Africa on Friday, beating them by 177 runs in the second one-day international to take an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in Sharjah.
Hashmatullah Shahidi, who led Afghanistan in last year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023, wasn't part of the side, his last T20I appearance coming in 2022.
Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan issued an ominous warning on the eve of this year's ICC Men's T20 World Cup by re-entering the top 10 of the ICC Men's T20I Bowler Rankings.
"It is a great series win for us," said Afghanistan captain Rashid Khan, going on to praise the performance of his young side.
Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan will miss the three-match Twenty20 series against India due to injury, but the team has plenty of experience in reserve, skipper Ibrahim Zadran said Wednesday.
The series commences on 11 January in Mohali.
From pickup games in dusty parks or narrow alleys to high-intensity training at well-kitted academies, young Afghans have cricket fever -- a trend spiked by the surprise performance of the Afghan national team at the recent ODI World Cup.
Star Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan pulled out of Australia's Big Bash League Thursday with a back injury that requires minor surgery, his team said.
Afghanistan need a big victory in order to get a significant boost to their net run rate as they look to keep their World Cup 2023 semifinal hopes alive when they face a South Africa outfit looking to bounce back from a crushing defeat at the hands of India.
Afghanistan skipper Hashmatullah Shahidi said Thursday that he had "wanted and expected more" at the World Cup as dreams of a semi-final place slipped away.
Shahidi’s performances so far in this World Cup have forced everyone to take notice of the southpaw.
