Rahmat Shah - Afghanistan - Batsman

A right-handed batsman who also bowls useful leg-spin, Rahmat Shah is seen as the new-age Afghanistan batsman who is capable of playing in all formats of the game. With Afghanistan having gained Test status, Shah is one amongst those batsmen who will be expected to shore up an 'explosive but prone to collapses' middle-order.

Techinically adequate, Rahmat Shah made his first-class debut in Pakistan's domestic circles and was soon making his One Day International (ODI) debut for Afghanistan, in 2013, against Scotland in Sharjah. In fact, his first-class debut for Afghanistan came a week after his ODI debut, against the same opponents in Abu Dhabi.

Lack of proper opportunities meant that Rahmat was just a fringe player in the Afghanistan set-up and only became a regular on his comeback to the national team in 2016. He celebrated his call-up with a superb hundred against Scotland and since then has turned out to the bulwark of Afghanistan's middle-order. Political tensions back home meant that Afghaistan do not have a stable home base. Since 2017, they have secured United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Greater Noida (India) as their two home bases and Rahmat celebrated his team's first-ever ODI in Greater Noida with a series winning career-best 108 against Ireland.

He then followed it up with consistent contributions during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers as Afghanistan overcame a shocking start to emerge champions and thereby gain qualification for the 2019 World Cup, scheduled to be held in United Kingdom.