On March 4, the Afghan legspinner will be just 19 years and 165 days old. No one has previously skippered their country - in any Test, ODI or T20I - in their teenage years. Here, The Cricketer rounds up the top 10 young skippers...
What were you doing when you were 19 years old?
Sleeping off a beer too many? Running around town with a stack of fluffed-up CVs? Sat at home at four o’clock on a Wednesday afternoon trying to outsmart Vorderman and Dent?
Was it even that memorable?
Rashid Khan isn’t likely to forget the final year of his teens any time soon, that’s for sure.
The Afghanistan legspinner has already become one of the most valuable commodities in world cricket, earning himself a lucrative Indian Premier League deal, lighting up the Big Bash and claiming the No. 1 spot in the ODI and T20 bowling world rankings... all before he enters his third decade.
And later this week he will hit yet another height when he becomes the youngest ever captain in international cricket history.
With regular skipper Asghar Stanikzai having undergone surgery after suffering from appendicitis in Zimbabwe, Khan will lead his country for the start of their World Cup qualifying campaign.
Though Stanikzai is due to return mid-tournament, Khan is likely to be in charge for the games against Scotland and Zimbabwe on March 4 and 6, and possibly for the clash with Hong Kong on March 8.
On March 4, he will be just 19 years and 165 days old. No one has previously captained their country - in any Test, ODI or T20I - in their teenage years.
Here are the top 10 young captains, who are each about to move down a rung thanks to Khan’s rise...
Shakib al Hasan
Perhaps Bangladesh’s greatest ever player, Shakib’s disruptive slow left-arm and destructive batting have helped his team grow steadily on the international scene over the past decade.
He won just one of his nine Tests in charge but tasted victory in nearly half (23) of the 50 ODIs he presided over.
A titan of South African cricket, with the physique to match, Smith moved seamlessly into captaincy duty in 2003 and what followed was a golden age of Proteas cricket.
The opening batsman’s no-nonsense approach inspired his countrymen to the top of the world rankings and a first ever series win in Australia, though a World Cup was never forthcoming.
He retired with 9,265 Test runs and 6,989 one-day international runs to his name.
The masterful bowler took charge of Pakistan took charge for one Test and one-day series against Zimbabwe in 1993 before more routinely leading the sides during the early 2000s.
He won 10 of 17 Tests and 37 of 62 one-day internationals, fine stats to go with his 789 international wickets.
And then there was the reverse swing… oh, the reverse swing.
The stylish No. 3 batsmen has become one of the world’s best over the past few years, establishing himself in an elite group alongside Steve Smith, Virat Kohli and Joe Root.
Having reached 3,000 Test runs faster than the great Don Bradman, he has already racked up 27 international centuries in all formats… one for every year he’s been alive.
The left-handed batsman has enjoyed a dramatic career, full of peaks and troughs.
From a brilliant maiden first-class century against Australia in 2006 to assuming the captaincy of his country the same year to being slapped with a 10-year ban for joining the controversial Indian Cricket League, there has never been a dull moment.
He has most recently been playing for South Zone and Rangpur Riders back home.
Utseya was used to making waves at a young age, having made his first-class debut for Mashonaland at the age of 15, prior to ascending to the Zimbabwean captaincy during the country’s troubled years in the mid-2000s.
After resigning the post in 2010, he became the second Zimbabwean to take an ODI hat-trick and played 203 matches in all formats for his country.
For a young man suffering from damaged eyesight as the result of a car accident just before his appointment as captain, Nawab of Pataudi (Mansur Ali Khan) had an exceptional career.
He led India 40 times and, although they won just nine of those Test matches, he is largely credited with helping the country find their feet after a torrid time on the international stage.
He died in 2011.
Tatenda Taibu
Like Rashid Khan, the diminutive wicketkeeper was vice-captain at the ripe old age of 19 when Zimbabwe toured England in 2003.
With his country’s cricket setup in turmoil following the resignation of Heath Streak, Taibu stepped up into a job no one could really have wanted and paid the consequences as a players’ revolt led to him becoming persona non grata among the Zimbabwean cricketing press and public.
He retired from international cricket in 2005, surprisingly reappeared in 2007 and bowed out again in 2012… at just 29 years old.
Allrounder Trott is the youngest ever T20 international captain, taking charge of Bermuda in the same year he was handed the reins of his country’s under-19 side.
He has played 11 ODIs and three T20s but fell off the radar after 2012.
A solid but unspectacular batsman, Rajin Saleh stepped into the breach to captain his country during the 2004 Champions Trophy in England after regular skipper Habibul Bashar broke his thumb.
His international career featured 2,146 runs at averages of 25.93 in Tests and 23.92 in ODIs; nothing groundbreaking, but he did play in Bangladesh’s first ever Test victory - against Zimbabwe in Chittagong in 2005.
Rajin Saleh
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