Bahir Shah (born 21 February 2000) is an Afghan cricketer. In domestic cricket, he plays for the Speen Ghar Tigers, and he has also played for the Afghanistan under-19 cricket team.[1] Since his debut in 2017, Bahir has set several records in first-class cricket.

Bahir Shah
Personal information
Full name
Said Bahir Shah Mehboob
Born (2000-02-21) 21 February 2000 (age 24)
Kunar Province, Afghanistan
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm off break
RoleTop-order batter
International information
National side
Only Test (cap 25)14 June 2023 v Bangladesh
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2017—Speen Ghar
Career statistics
Competition Test FC LA T20
Matches 1 40 35 8
Runs scored 7 3,228 1,135 157
Batting average 7.00 60.90 39.13 19.62
100s/50s –/– 10/14 2/8 –/–
Top score 7 303* 104 37
Balls bowled 0 255 16 0
Wickets 7 4
Bowling average 29.00 3.25
5 wickets in innings
10 wickets in match
Best bowling 1/0 4/2
Catches/stumpings –/– 29/1 5/– 5/–
Source: Cricinfo, 2 December 2023

Career edit

He made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament on 20 October 2017, scoring 256 runs not out in the first innings.[2] It was the second-highest score on debut, and he became the 17th player to score a double century on first-class debut.[3][4]

The following month, in his third first-class match, he scored a century in both innings, making 111 and 116, respectively.[5] In his next match, he scored 303 not out in the first innings against Boost Region.[6] He became the second-youngest player, behind Javed Miandad, to score a triple century in first-class cricket.[7] From his first six innings in first-class cricket he made 831 runs, the most by any player, breaking the previous record of 741 runs made by Bill Ponsford.[8] He scored his 1,000th run in first-class cricket in his eleventh innings, the second-fastest behind Ponsford.[9] He finished the 2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament as the leading run-scorer, with a total of 1,096 runs.[10]

In December 2017, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.[9] In January 2018, his batting average in first-class cricket was 121.77.[11] This was the highest for any batsman who had scored at least 1,000 first-class runs, with Donald Bradman second on the list with an average of 95.14.[11]

However, for the 2018 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, his form dropped, scoring 408 runs in 7 matches, with just one century.[12] His average for the tournament was 34, with his career average dropping to 71.61.[12]

He made his List A debut for Speen Ghar Region in the 2018 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament on 11 July 2018.[13] He only played in two matches during the tournament, scoring a total of sixteen runs, with an average of eight.[14] In April 2019, in the opening match of the 2019 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, he scored 156 not out against Boost Region, and was named the player of the match.[15] He finished the tournament with 400 runs in five matches, including two centuries.[16]

In September 2019, in Speen Ghar Region's first match of the 2019 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, he scored an unbeaten 103.[17] He finished the tournament with 237 runs, including two centuries, from his four innings. He also took four wickets from just eight balls.[18]

He made his Twenty20 debut for Speen Ghar Tigers in the 2019 Shpageeza Cricket League on 11 October 2019, but only scored three runs.[19] Shah only played in one more match in the tournament, scoring 26 runs in his two innings.[20]

In November 2019, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh.[21] In August 2020, he was the leading run-scorer in the 2020 Afghanistan Provincial Challenge Cup, finishing the tournament with 244 runs.[22] The following month, Bahir played in just one match in the 2020 Shpageeza Cricket League,[23] in the game between Speen Ghar Tigers and Kabul Eagles.[24] He top-scored for the team, with 37 runs from 30 balls, although Speen Ghar Tigers lost the match by six wickets.[25]

In February 2021, he was named in Afghanistan's Test squad for their series against Zimbabwe.[26]

He made his Test debut for Afghanistan against Bangladesh, on 14 June 2023.[27]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Bahir Shah". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  2. ^ "2nd Match, Alokozay Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament at Amanullah, Oct 20-23 2017". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  3. ^ "Afghanistan cricketer Baheer Shah scores 256* on First-Class debut; enters record book". Cricket County. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  4. ^ "First-class records: Double hundred on debut". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  5. ^ "5th Match, Alokozay Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament at Kabul, Nov 1-4 2017". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  6. ^ "7th Match, Alokozay Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament at Khost, Nov 7-10 2017". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  7. ^ "Baheer Shah becomes the 2nd youngest player to score a triple century in first-class cricket". CricTracker. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  8. ^ "This 18-yr-old Afghan can leave behind even Tendulkar and Kohli". Wah Cricket. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  9. ^ a b "Mujeeb Zadran in Afghanistan squad for Under-19 World Cup". ESPN Cricinfo. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 7 December 2017.
  10. ^ "2017–18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament: Most Runs". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  11. ^ a b "Meet Baheer Shah, the Afghan wunderkind who is outdoing Bradman". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament 2018: Speen Ghar Region, Batting and Bowling Averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Group B, Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament at Khost, Jul 11 2018". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  14. ^ "Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, 2018 - Speen Ghar Region: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  15. ^ "3rd Match, Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament at Kunar, Apr 4-7 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Records: Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament, 2019, Most runs". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  17. ^ "Mis Ainak Region v Speen Ghar Region, Amanullah, September 11, 2019". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  18. ^ "Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, 2019 - Speen Ghar Region: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  19. ^ "9th Match, Shpageeza Cricket League at Kabul, Oct 11 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  20. ^ "Records: Shpageeza Cricket League, 2019/20 - Speen Ghar Tigers, Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  21. ^ "Afghanistan Emerging travels to Bangladesh for Asia Cup". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
  22. ^ "Provincial Challenge Cup (Grade I), 2020: Most runs". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
  23. ^ "Records / Shpageeza Cricket League, 2020 - Speen Ghar Tigers: Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  24. ^ "zmatullah, Gurbaz hand Eagles easy win". Afghanistan Cricket Board. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  25. ^ "14th Match, Kabul, Sep 13 2020, Shpageeza Cricket League". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  26. ^ "Rashid Khan in squad for Zimbabwe Tests, to miss large part of PSL season". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  27. ^ "Only Test, Mirpur, June 14 - 18, 2023, Afghanistan tour of Bangladesh". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 17 June 2023.

External links edit