On this day: Afghanistan’s Shafiqullah Shafiq smashes fastest FC double century

Till March 2018, former Indian all-rounder and current head coach of Indian cricket team Ravi Shastri held the record of scoring the fastest double century in First-Class cricket. While playing for Bombay (now Mumbai) in a Ranji Trophy match against Baroda in 1985, the all-rounder took just 113 minutes and 123 deliveries to get to his double hundred. That particular game is also famous as Shahtri smashed six sixes in an over.

However, on April 11, his record was broken by Afghanistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman Shafiqullah Shafiq as he took just 103 minutes and 89 deliveries to put up 200 runs on the scorecard. Shafiqullah and Shastri are the only players in FC history to score a double ton inside two hours of time.

#OnThisDay in 2018, Shafiqullah Shafaq smashed the fastest double century in first-class cricket!

He reached the mark in 8️⃣9️⃣ balls and 1️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ minutes in Afghanistan’s Alokozay Ahmad Shah Abdali four-day tournament ? pic.twitter.com/8rZoGR9rVK

— ICC (@ICC) April 11, 2020

Coming to the game, the Boost region and Kabul region were up against each other from April 8 to April 11, 2018, in a match of  Alokozay Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament in Kunar Cricket Ground. Losing the toss, Shafiqullah Shafiq & his men were invited to bat first. In the first innings, Kabut got off to a thrilling start as they managed to post 413 runs on the scoreboard.

The opening duo of Imran Janat and Said Mutabar played two important knocks of 78 and 98 runs respectively while Ghamai Zadran added 87 runs to the scoreboard. Shafiq didn’t have an ideal outing in the first innings as he lost his wicket to Sayed Shirzad while playing at 22 runs off 10 balls.

Batting in the second innings, the boost region failed to put up a competitive fight as they could score only 250 runs. Waheedullah Shafaq emerged as the highest run-getter for the side with 80 runs. For Kabul, Shamsurrahman was the pick of the bowler with three wickets while Mohammad Inamullah and Karim Janat had two each under their belt.

Kabul entered their second batting innings with a massive lead of 163 runs. However, the top-order flattened, and the team lost their first three wickets quickly with no batter scoring even 30 runs. This is when Shafiqullah stepped up and launched an assault on the opposition bowlers as played at an astonishing strike rate of 224.71.

In just 89 balls, the batsman reached his double-hundred. His knock included 11 boundaries and 22 maximums. The skipper’s helped his team as the four days were completed when Kabul was playing at 312/5 and the match ended in a draw.