Afghanistan's Rahmat Shah Joins Virat Kohli In Special List Of Test Captains

Rahmat Shah is leading Afghanistan for the first time in Test cricket, and on his captaincy debut, the right-handed batter scored a century in the first innings before following it up with a half-century in the second. Rahmat, who succeeded Hashmatullah Shahidi as Afghanistan’s new Test and ODI captain, scored an unbeaten 105 off 216 balls on Sunday (October 11) in the first innings of one-off Test against Bangladesh and made 51 off 124 balls while batting at No. 4 in Afghanistan’s second innings on Monday.

The century and half-century by Rahmat in the red-ball match at Sheikh Zayed Stadium have helped him enter the record books.

Rahmat is only the sixth player in the world to smash century and make a 50+ score as well in his maiden Test as captain.

Players to make century and 50+ score on Test captaincy debut

PLAYER	COUNTRY	RUNS (1st Innings)	RUNS (2nd Innings)	AGAINST	VENUE	START DATE
Archie MacLaren	England	109	50*	Australia	Sydney	December 13, 1897
Geoff Rabone	New Zealand	107	68	South Africa	Durban	December 11, 1953
Greg Chappell	Australia	123	109*	West Indies	Brisbane	November 28, 1975
Brendan Taylor	Zimbabwe	71	105*	Bangladesh	Harare	August 4, 2011
Virat Kohli	India	115	141	Australia	Adelaide	December 9, 2014
Rahmat Shah	Afghanistan	105*	51	Bangladesh	Abu Dhabi	October 9, 2026

The last player to achieve the feat on his Test captaincy debut was India’s Virat Kohli. Kohli led India for the first time in Tests against Australia at Adelaide Oval in December 2014 and scored 115 and 141 in the two innings.

England’s Archie MacLaren was the first player in the world to make a century and 50+ score on his Test captaincy debut. He achieved the feat against Australia in 1897 and was followed by New Zealand’s Geoff Rabone, Australia’s Greg Chappell, Zimbabwe’s Brendan Taylor and Kohli.

Former India head coach Greg Chappell and Kohli are the only two players to have scored centuries in both innings of their first Test as captain.

Rahmat was dismissed by Ebadot Hossain on Monday, with wicketkeeper Litton Das completing the catch off the first ball of the 43rd over of Afghanistan’s second innings.

Afghanistan finished the fourth day’s play of the ongoing Test against Bangladesh at 132/3 after 50 overs. They still need 347 runs on Day 5 to beat Bangladesh and win the match.

So far, no team in Test cricket history has successfully chased down a target of more than 420 runs. The highest successful run chase in Tests remains the West Indies’ 418-run chase against Australia.