Afghanistan batter Darwish Rasooli scored his seventh first-class century on Friday (May 2), extending his incredible record in the longest format.
Afghanistan A entered the fourth and final day of their one-off unofficial Test against Sri Lanka A at 132-3 in the fourth innings, with another 483 runs needed to win.
One-off unofficial Test, Afghanistan A vs Sri Lanka A
vs
- Ball by ball Over
Victory was virtually off the table, so wicketkeeper Afsar Zazai and skipper Darwish Rasooli went about trying to bat out the day. The pair had already put on 105 on the evening of day three, and their partnership was eventually broken at 168 after Zazai was dismissed by Wanuja Sahan for 82.
Rasooli batted on, reaching his seventh first-class century after lunch, off 200 balls. He went on to score 121, before Isitha Wijesundara, who took 6-35 in Afghanistan's first innings, had him caught behind. Afghanistan A were eventually bowled out for 306 in the final session of the day, losing by 308 runs.
Who is Darwish Rasooli?
This is the 25-year-old's second rescue act for Afghanistan A in the space of three weeks. On April 15, against the same opposition in a List A tri-series, Rasooli scored 155 to help his side recover from 3-4 and post 248-8.
His record in first-class cricket has been outstanding, since his debut back in 2018. Rasooli began with 154 for Amo against Band-e-Amir and followed it up with what remains a career-best 249 against Speen Ghar. He is one of just 23 players ever to start their first-class career with back-to-back centuries.
Rasooli also scored an unbeaten double century in his third first-class match, against Boost. Before today, he had scored 66 runs in three first-class outings for Afghanistan A. He has also played nine T20Is for Afghanistan, scoring 118 runs.
Highest batting average in men's first-class cricket, full list
| Name | Matches | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s | High Score |
| Don Bradman | 234 | 28067 | 95.1 | 69 | 117 | 452* |
| Vijay Merchant | 150 | 13470 | 71.6 | 52 | 45 | 359* |
| George Headley | 103 | 9921 | 69.9 | 44 | 33 | 344* |
| Ajay Sharma | 129 | 10120 | 67.5 | 36 | 38 | 259* |
| Sarfaraz Khan | 54 | 4593 | 65.6 | 14 | 16 | 301* |
| Bill Ponsford | 162 | 13819 | 65.2 | 43 | 47 | 437 |
| Bill Woodfull | 174 | 13388 | 65.0 | 58 | 49 | 284 |
| Shantanu Sugwekar | 85 | 6563 | 63.1 | 26 | 19 | 299* |
| Darwish Rasooli | 25 | 2240 | 62.2 | 9 | 7 | 249 |
| Kamindu Mendis | 56 | 4920 | 61.5 | 23 | 18 | 200* |
Image credit: Facebook / Afghanistan Cricket Board
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