Stats: Rashid Khan becomes fastest to 100 ODI wickets
Rashid Khan has been a changed bowler since Asghar Stanikzai returned to the Afghanistan squad following his appendicitis operation and took back captaincy duties from the young leg-spinner.
At the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018, the regular captain missed the first-round matches and the first game of the Super Sixes, but has led in the last two games. Before Stanikzai returned, Rashid performed below his usual lofty standards, picking up eight wickets in five matches. But, since then, he has picked up nine wickets in three games, including one in the final against Windies, which made him the fastest to 100 wickets in the format in terms of matches played – 44.
Fastest to 100 ODI wickets
| Bowler | Team | Matches | Time taken |
| Rashid Khan | Afghanistan | 44 | 2 years, 158 days |
| Mitchell Starc | Australia | 52 | 5 years, 306 days |
| Saqlain Mushtaq | Pakistan | 53 | 1 year, 225 days |
| Shane Bond | New Zealand | 54 | 5 years, 12 days |
| Brett Lee | Australia | 55 | 3 years, 16 days |
Rashid Khan now the quickest to claim 100 ODI wickets in just 44 games. It should be noted here that only 8 of his wickets have come against Scotland/UAE/Hong Kong.. the remaining 92 wkts have come against Test status sides Bangladesh/West Indies/Zimbabwe/Ireland.#WIvAFG #CWCQ
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 25, 2018
Interestingly, just before the commencement of the qualifiers, the ICC Associate Cricketer of the Year 2017 had raced to another milestone, that of being the youngest player – and only teenager – to get to the top of any of the MRF Tyres ICC Player Rankings for men, when he became the No.1 ODI bowler at just 7092 days of age.
Rashid, yet to turn 20, was on top of the charts at the end of Afghanistan’s 4-1 ODI series win in Sharjah in February, when he was the highest wicket-taker with 16 strikes, achieved at a remarkable average of 7.9.
Stafanie Taylor remains the only cricketer – man or woman – to top an ICC table at a younger age than Rashid – she was 6907 days old when she became the No.1 batter in women’s Twenty20 Internationals.
Youngest No.1s in men's cricket
| Player | Table | Age (in days) | Year |
| Rashid Khan | ODI bowlers | 7092 | 2018 |
| Saqlain Mushtaq | ODI bowlers | 7683 | 1998 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | Test batsmen | 7878 | 1994 |
| Shakib Al Hasan | ODI all-rounders | 7976 | 2009 |
| Kagiso Rabada | ODI bowlers | 8040 | 2017 |
Rashid’s numbers make for fascinating reading. His 100 wickets have come at an average of under 15, and his economy rate is below 4, underscoring his reputation of being a strike bowler who is also difficult to score off. In all, he has taken more than four wickets in a match on eight occasions.
Rashid Khan's best ODI performances
| Returns | Match details |
| 7/18 | Against Windies in Gros Islet (9 June 2017) |
| 6/43 | Against Ireland in Greater Noida (17 March 2017) |
| 5/24 | Against Zimbabwe in Sharjah (13 February 2018) |
| 5/41 | Against UAE in Harare (20 March 2018) |
| 4/21 | Against Ireland in Belfast (17 Jul 2016) |
| 4/26 | Against Zimbabwe in Sharjah (9 February 2018) |
| 4/29 | Against Ireland in Greater Noida (24 March 2017) |
| 4/48 | Against Ireland in Greater Noida (15 March 2017) |
Rashid now ranks only below Mohammad Nabi in the list of highest ODI wicket-takers by Afghans. While Nabi, also one of Afghanistan’s batting mainstays, has taken 103 wickets in 98 games, Rashid has taken well below half the number of games to get within three wickets of his senior mate.
Most ODI wickets by Afghanistan bowlers
| Bowler | Details |
| Mohammad Nabi | 103 wickets in 98 matches |
| Rashid Khan | 100 wickets in 44 matches |
| Dawlat Zadran | 98 wickets in 72 matches |
| Hamid Hassan | 56 wickets in 32 matches |
| Mirwais Ashraf | 46 wickets in 46 matches |