Cricket’s Young Guns: 5 Popular Players Who Made Their ODI Debuts At Young Age!

In a historic moment during the third ODI match between England and Bangladesh, a new name was added to the record books. Rehan Ahmed, an 18-year-old leg-spinner, made his ODI debut for England, becoming the youngest player to represent the country in ODI cricket. With a mere age of 205 days, Ahmed surpassed the long-standing record previously held by Ben Hollioake.

Although Ahmed’s performance on his debut was not spectacular, with figures of 1-62, his potential and talent have not gone unnoticed. Having recently made his Test debut for England, Ahmed’s journey in the world of cricket has already been filled with achievements.

Ahmed’s impressive debut at such a young age has sparked interest in other cricketers who have made their debuts at a similarly young age. In this article, we take a closer look at five other popular cricketers who also made their ODI debut at a very young age.

1. Shahid Afridi

Pakistan has traditionally been a country that fast-tracks players very early on. Shahid Afridi was one of them. He played his ODI debut match at the age of 16 and 215 days. Afridi made his debut against Kenya in 1996. He has scored 8064 runs and taken 395 wickets in 398 matches.

2.  Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin Tendulkar was also inducted into the one-day format at an early age. He debuted against Pakistan in 1989 at the age of 16 years and 238 days. He went on to play 463 ODIs, scoring 18426 runs in the format, a world record. At present, Tendulkar is the only player to have scored 49 centuries in ODIs. Tendulkar appeared in his last ODI against Pakistan in 2012 at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium.

Read more: Debutants Who Started With Virat Kohli: Where Are They Now?

3. Mujeeb Ur Rahman

Mujeeb Ur Rahman made his ODI debut against Ireland in Sharjah when he was 16 years and 252 days old. As of now, Rahman has played 55 ODIs for Afghanistan, taking 79 wickets for an average of 24.76. Although he played his last ODI against Sri Lanka in 2022, the talented spinner is determined to play many more matches for his nation.

4. Abdul Razzaq

During his playing days, Abdul Razzak contributed over 5080 runs and 269 wickets to Pakistan’s lineup. He made his ODI debut at 16 years. The last of his 265 games took place in 2011 against Sri Lanka. He scored 5080 runs and took 269 wickets in the format.

5. Rashid Khan

The Afghan spinner Rashid Khan played his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in 2015 at the age of 17 and 28 days old. In his short career, Rashid has taken 163 wickets and troubled some of the best batters. He is the captain of Afghanistan’s T20 team at the moment.

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