Rashid becomes first to 700 wickets in T20 cricket

Rashid Khan has become the first bowler to get to the 700-wicket mark in T20 cricket, getting to the mark when he removed Muhammad Arfan in Afghanistan's T20 World Cup match against UAE in Delhi on Monday. Rashid, who started the game with 699 wickets against his name, took his landmark wicket when he had Arfan out hit wicket in the 16th over of the UAE innings, which was Rashid's last.

The Afghanistan captain was made to wait for his milestone after taking his 698th and 699th wickets against South Africa last week and then delivering 3.2 overs in this match without success. He was hit for 17 runs in the 20 balls he bowled before Arfan moved across his stumps to try and reverse-sweep Rashid, but missed completely and hit his own stumps instead. Rashid barely celebrated with Afghanistan needing a win and other results to go their way to qualify for the Super Eights.

Rashid had, in any case, been way ahead of the wicket-takers' pack for a while. The retired Dwayne Bravo is in second place on the table with 631 wickets. Among active cricketers, Sunil Narine is behind Rashid - and in third place behind Bravo - with 613 wickets.

Rashid is also the leading wicket-taker in T20 internationals, the 700th wicket also his 191st for Afghanistan in the format. Behind him on the list are the New Zealand duo of Tim Southee (with 164 wickets) and Ish Sodhi (162 wickets).

The milestone had been a topic of conversation each time Rashid, the Afghanistan captain, faced the media in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup and even afterwards. Last Tuesday, speaking before the game against South Africa, he had responded to the question with, "700 wickets, whatever the achievement is, it will continue. I have not kept any target in my mind that I will take 700 wickets and stop - no, when I play for the national team at the World Cup, then I make 100% effort. And when the team requires it, I take the wicket."

The most prolific wicket-taker in the history of the format, Rashid has actually been slightly below his best since back surgery in 2023, but against West Indies in Afghanistan's recent series win, he conceded just 51 runs in 12 overs across three matches with five wickets to his name in what were otherwise high-scoring affairs. Then, in the first game of the World Cup for Afghanistan, he returned 1 for 36, Afghanistan's second-most economical bowler behind Mujeeb Ur Rahman as New Zealand crossed Afghanistan's 182 with more than two overs to spare.