Munir Ahmad

Munir Ahmad is an absolute run machine who broke into the Afghanistan ODI squad for the Asia Cup (Sept 2018) and was named again the following year (Nov 2019) for the ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh. On both occasions, he missed out, but he finally won his National cap in March 2021 when making his Test debut against Zimbabwe.

His selection was richly deserved courtesy of his domestic exploits over the years. In 2017/18 – his debut season, he topped the Boost Region run charts hitting 1,496 runs at 49.86 during the 2017/18 Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-Day Tournament. He failed to replicate his first-class success in 2018/19, but impressed in white-ball cricket, hitting 256 runs at 64 (2018), and 348 runs at 116 (2019), in the Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One Day Tournament.

He returned to red-ball form in 2019/20 belting 3 further centuries amongst 595 runs at 85, not to mention another 414 runs at 82.80 in the One Day Tournament. After a year’s absence from first-class due to COVID, Ahmad returned to cricket with a bang during the 2021/22 season htiting 225 runs at 75 in the One-Day Tournament, before 314 runs at 44.85 in the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-Day Tournament.

It’s been an incredibly run-filled few years for Ahmad who boasts first-class, and List A averages of 48.74, and 61.24, respectively. He has already scored 14 centuries in these 78 matches, including three double centuries. At the point of writing, he strikes a century every 5.07 FC/List A innings and has an impressive 50 to 100 conversion of 48%.

Ahmad is a serious batting talent, who also doubles as a competent gloveman. He is looking to become a key figure for Afghanistan cricket in the future, and to continue his development he spent a season with Bovey Tracey in the Devon Cricket League last summer. He excelled, hitting 2 centuries amongst 573 runs at 44.08.