8th best Average in FC cricket by Afghan Darwish Rasooli

Eighth-best average ever: Afghanistan batter continues dream run with third first-class century in four matches

May 17, 2025

Darwish Rasooli has struck another century in Afghanistan's first-class competition, extending his dream run in the longest format.

Darwish Rasooli has struck another century in Afghanistan's first-class competition, extending his dream run in the longest format.

At the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament at Nangarhar, Mah-e-Par Stars captain Rasooli elected to bat first against Pamir Legends. After the batting team lost opener Riaz Hassan at 29-1, Rasooli entered the crease. His innings of 184-ball 134 set up the tone for the Stars as they notched up 336. The knock was studded with 18 fours. Barring Rasooli, the next highest score – 43 – was jointly scored by Zubaid Akbari and Shahidullah. Wrist spinner Qais Ahmad was the pick of the Pamir Legends bowlers for his 4-62.

A week ago, Rasooli smashed a 122 off 139 balls against Maiwand Champions, inspiring his team to victory despite conceding a 99-run first-innings lead. This came on the heels of his gritty 121 for Afghanistan A in a fourth-innings chase of 615 against Sri Lanka during an unofficial Test in Abu Dhabi earlier in May. With his century on Saturday, Rasooli has now notched three hundreds in his last four matches.

Players with highest first-class average: Full list (minimum 2000 runs)

Don Bradman's first-class average of 95.14 is still well ahead of the next best, Vijay Merchant's 71.64. With that hundred, Rasooli has now climbed to eighth (63.6), replacing India's Shantanu Sugwekar, who is just fractionally behind.

The only active players apart from Rasooli in the top ten are India's Sarfaraz Khan (fifth, 65.61) and Sri Lanka's Kamindu Mendis, whose record-breaking start to Test cricket has taken his first-class average to 61.5, the 10th highest of all time.

Name -Country -Matches -Innings- Runs -Average

Don Bradman- Australia- 234 -338 -28,067- 95.14

Vijay Merchant- India -150 -234- 13,470- 71.64

George Headley -West Indies- 103-164-9921-69.84

Ajay Sharma -India -129 -166 -10,120 -67.46

Sarfaraz Khan- India -54 -82 -4,593 -65.61

Bill Ponsford -Australia -162- 235- 13,819 -65.18

Bill Woodfull -Australia- 174 -245- 13,388 -64.99

Darwish Rasooli -Afghanistan- 28*- 44 -2,544 -63.60 🌹

Shantanu Sugwekar- India -85 122 -6,563 -63.10

Kamindu Mendis - SL-56-87-4920-61.50

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