Gqeberha: Afghan spinner Rashid Khan scripted history, going past West Indies legend Dwayne Bravo's tally of wickets in T20 cricket to become the highest wicket-taker in the shortest format. Rashid achieved an incredible milestone during in the SA20 Qualifier 1 between Paarl Royals and MI Cape Town on Tuesday, February 4.
Bravo, who retired from professional cricket in 2024, finished his T20 career with 631 wickets. Rashid surpassed Bravo's tally with the wicket of Sri Lanka's rising sensation Dunith Wellalage, who plays for Paarl Royals in the SA20 league. He picked up two wickets in the game, with the second victim being India's Dinesh Karthik.
Captain. Leader. 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐃-𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐑 💙💥
— MI Cape Town (@MICapeTown) February 4, 2025
Greatness unfolds right before our eyes 🫡#MICapeTown #OneFamily pic.twitter.com/rqbei5pYbf
Rashid needed ten wickets to become the most successful T20 bowler and it took him ten SA20 matches to seal the massive record.
"It's a great achievement," Rashid told the host broadcaster after his team secured victory. "I never thought about it, if you asked 10 years before this if I would get there. It's a proud feeling to be from Afghanistan and to be at that level where you top the table. DJ [Bravo] is one of the best T20 bowlers. It's a great honour and I'm looking forward to continuing."
Rashid made his T20 debut in October 2015 as a teenager, while Sri Lankan veteran Lasith Malinga was the leading wicket-taker. Dwayne Bravo surpassed the Sri Lankan and took the title in April 2016 at age 31, becoming the first bowler to reach 300 wickets. His record lasted nearly eight years and ten months, representing almost 40% of T20's lifespan up to that point.
The 26-year-old Rashid is now fast approaching 500 T20 games having participated in almost every franchise league happening across the globe. Rashid has won an Indian Premier League (IPL) title and a Pakistan Super League (PSL) title and was virtually a household name in Adelaide where he played 69 matches for the Strikers, including picking up career-best figures of 6 for 17.
The Afghan spinner also holds the record for taking more than 50 wickets in T20s for 8 consecutive calendar years from 2017 to 2024. No other player has achieved 50-plus wickets in more than five years, and no one has done it more than three times in a row.
Apart from this, Rashid finished with 96 scalps off 61 matches - the most by any bowler in a calendar year (2018). He has picked up 75 or more wickets in a calendar year four times while no other bowler has managed to achieve it more than once.
Rashid has four hat-tricks in T20s, the most by any bowler. He has one each in the CPL, BBL and IPL, and one for Afghanistan in a T20I.
