Mujeeb Ur Rahman – A Trend Breaker of Afghanistan's Squad

Mujeeb Ur Rahman Zadran was born on 28 March 2001 in Khost, Afghanistan. He is a right-handed batsman and an amazing right-arm off-break bowler who is showing his terrific performance with the ball at such a young age.

A rising star of Afghanistan Cricket, Mujeeb Ur Rahman developed a keen interest in cricket while watching the 2012 World T20 and then practiced in his own mansion in Khost. His interest was in spin bowling, and for that, he practiced using a tennis ball and took help from YouTube videos of Ajantha Mendis. Then he joined a cricket academy to hone up his cricketing skills.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s Current Teams

Mujeeb plays for his country Afghanistan and for the India Premier League (IPL). In the IPL, he plays for Kings XI Punjab.

Rehman International Career

Mujeeb can be called a 'mystery' spinner, where nagging accuracy with the judicious use of carrom ball is his strength. He uses the finger spin bowling technique. In the ACC Under-19 Cup, Mujeeb Ur Rehman bagged 20 wickets in five matches and helped his team secure their maiden title win. Because of his terrific performance, he got selected in Afghanistan's One Day International squad (ODI) for the Ireland series in 2017. Mujeeb made his ODI debut for Afghanistan on 5 December 2017 against Ireland. In the debut match itself, he bagged four wickets for 24 runs in 10 overs and played an important role in winning the match by 138 runs. For his good performance, he was rewarded with the Man of the Match award.

In Dec 2017, Mujeeb was named in the squad for the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut against Zimbabwe in February 2018. Then on 16 February 2018, Mujeeb Ur Rahman became the youngest player to bag his maiden ODI five-wicket haul and was then awarded the Man of the Match.

Due to his terrific performance, Mujeeb's name appears on the top ten players to watch ahead in the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament by International Cricket Council (ICC). Then in the first match of the Super Sixes stage of the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers, Mujeeb Ur Rahman took three wickets for 33 runs against West Indies. He bagged the third ODI Man of the Match award for his spellbinding performance as Afghanistan beat West Indies team in the match.

In the final of the Cricket World Cup Qualifiers 2018, Mujeeb helped Afghanistan beat West Indies by his brilliant performance where he took four wickets for 43 runs in 9.5 overs. It helped in restricting the West Indies to 204 runs, and then Afghanistan easily chased the target by losing three wickets with ten spare overs to clinch the first title of the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier. He, along with Rashid Khan and Safyaan Sharif, was a leading wicket-taker in the tournament. After the conclusion of the tournament, he was named as the ‘shining star’ of the Afghanistan squad.

Rehman Test Cricket

Mujeeb Ur Rahman made his test debut in the inaugural Test match against Indian team in May 2018. He became the first Afghanistan player to make a first-class debut in a Test match. Guess what will be Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s age when he made the test match debut for the inaugural test cricket for their country? Mujeeb was only 17 years old, and he is also the youngest to play the first test match for his country.

Domestic and T20 Franchise Career of Mujeeb Ur Rahman

• In the 2017 Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament, Mujeeb made his List A debut for Speen Ghar Region.
• In 2017 only, he made his Twenty20 debut for the Boost Defenders team in the Shpageeza Cricket League.
• Comilla Victorians signed Mujeeb for the 2017–18 Bangladesh Premier League season in 2017.
• Hampshire County Cricket Club in 2018 signed him to play the 2018 T20 Blast tournament in England.
• Mujeeb was named in the Nangarhar's squad for the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament in 2018 where he was the leading wicket-taker for his team with 12 wickets in 9 matches.
• In 2019, he played the 2019 T20 Blast tournament in England for Middlesex County Cricket Club.
• In the 2019–20 Bangladesh Premier League, Mujeeb played for Cumilla Warriors.

Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s IPL Career

In the 2018 IPL auction, Kings XI Punjab bought Mujeeb for INR 4 crore. He was the second player from Afghanistan who got selected to play IPL. Moreover, because of his terrific wicket-taking performance, Kings XI Punjab put a lot of trust into him and proposed his name for the playing eleven despite several international star cricketers. On 8 April 2018, at the age of 17 years, Mujeeb became the youngest player to play IPL. He picked 14 wickets in 11 matches in IPL 2018 but did not have a memorable 2019 IPL season as he picked only three wickets. Check Mujeeb Ur Rahman’s stats for bowling, batting, and fielding in all IPL seasons.

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Fielding

Player of Match Awards

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