NEW DELHI: At 19 years and 165 days of age, highly-rated Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, the No. 1 Twenty20 International bowler, on Sunday became the youngest captain in the history of international cricket.
The World’s No. 2 ODI bowler Rashid led Afghanistan, after regular skipper Asghar Stanikzai was diagnosed with appendicitis, against Scotland in their opening match of the ICC World Cup qualifiers at Bulawayo in Zimbabwe. It was not a good start for the youngster as a skipper with Afghanistan losing the match by seven wickets to Scotland.
Rashid also had a tough outing as he was adjudged leg before for a golden duck while batting, before returning with the figures of 1 for 68 in nine overs.
The leg-spinner has so far taken 87 wickets in 38 ODIs and 47 wickets in 29 T20Is.
The previous record was held by Rajin Saleh, 20 years and 297 days, when he led Bangladesh’s ODI side against South Africa in a ICC Champions Trophy match in Birmingham on September 12, 2004.
The Test record is still held by Tatenda Taibu, who at the age of 20 years and 358 days led Zimbabwe against Sri Lanka at Harare in 2004.
Sachin Tendulkar holds the record of the youngest Indian to lead an ODI team. In 1996, Tendulkar was made captain of the limited-over side at the age of 23 years and 126 days against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
And in Test cricket, the Indian record is with late Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi who captained India against West Indies at Bridgetown in 1962 at the age of 21 years and 77 days. The ‘Tiger’ Patuadi held the longest-format record for more than four decades before Taibu claimed the distinction in 2004.
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