Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi lead the Bulawayo record-fest

Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi break records in Bulawayo

Rahmat Shah scored a career-best 231* against Zimbabwe, the highest individual score by an Afghanistan batter in a Test innings. This is only the second double hundred for Afghanistan in Tests, with Hashmatullah Shahidi scoring the first one against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi, 2021.

Rahmat Shah and Hashmatullah Shahidi's unbeaten partnership of 361* is the highest for any wicket for Afghanistan in Tests. This surpasses the previous record of 307 between Asghar Afghan and Shahidi against the same opponent in Abu Dhabi, 2021.

This stand is currently the second-highest stand for any wicket against Zimbabwe, behind 438 between Marvan Atapattu and Kumar Sangakkara in 2004. Rahmat and Shahidi went past 336 between Kraigg Brathwaite and Tagnarine Chanderpaul from last year to take the second spot. All three have come in Bulawayo.

Notable milestones and records

• A wicketless day occurred for the 26th time in Test Cricket, the first time on Zimbabwe soil.
• Rahmat Shah (231*) and Hashmatullah Shahidi (141*) are the first pair to remain unbeaten throughout an entire day of play in a Test since Kusal Mendis and Angelo Mathews for Sri Lanka against New Zealand in Wellington, 2018.
• This is only the 2nd instance in the last 15 years where a team has batted an entire day without losing a wicket.
• 330 runs were scored on the third day's play of the Zimbabwe vs Afghanistan first Test at Bulawayo, the 11th instance of 300-plus runs being scored without losing a wicket on a single day of a Test.
• 586 runs is Zimbabwe's highest innings score in Tests, bettering 563/9d vs. West Indies in Harare, 2001.
• This is the highest team total against Afghanistan by any team, bettering India's 474 runs against them in Bengaluru, 2018.

Zimbabwe's highest innings scores in Tests

Three Zimbabwe batters scored a hundred in a Test innings for the third time in their history. The other two instances came against Pakistan in 1995 and Bangladesh in 2001. This was also the first instance when three centuries were recorded in a Test innings against Afghanistan.

Afsar Zazai, Afghanistan's designated wicketkeeper, had four dismissals in the first innings. This is the most by an Afghanistan wicketkeeper in an innings.