Amir Hamza

A crafty left-arm spinner and a decent lower-order batsman, Amir Hamza was part of the Afghanistan U-19 team for the 2010 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup and made just one appearance against Papua New Guinea.

Hamza later made his first-class debut against Canada in the 2011-13 Intercontinental Cup. He considers his 3 for 18 against Nepal in the semi-final of ACC U-19 Cup Elite in Kuwait as his best cricketing achievement to date. Hamza’s Test debut came against a full-member Pakistan squad in February 2012. He was dismissed on a duck and bowled four wicketless overs in a despairing defeat.

Leading the charts of wicket-takers in the 2018 domestic first-class tournament, he was named in Afghanistan’s squad for the inaugural Test match against India in May 2018 but failed to make it into the playing XI. On his debut Test match against the Men in Maroon on November 27th,2019, he scalped his maiden five-wicket haul and became the first Afghanistan player to achieve this feat.

With a healthy bowling average in all three formats, Hamza has certainly improved on his variations and has shown signs of becoming a spin-bowling legend alongside his teammates Rashid Khan and Mujeeb-Ur-Rahman. Considering his bowling style is similar to that of Daniel Vettori, he would be looking to follow the footsteps of his idol and prove his supremacy in international cricket.

(As of March 2021)