Fazalhaq Farooqi

A left-arm quick who can swing the ball both ways at pace, it didn't take Fazalhaq Farooqi long to become the leader of Afghanistan's pace attack in white-ball cricket after he made his international debut in 2021.

Farooqi is now the go-to man with the new ball for Afghanistan, and most teams that he represents in franchise leagues around the globe. After working with Dwayne Bravo across franchises as well as during his stint as Afghanistan's fast-bowling consultant, Farooqi has developed his death-bowling skills to become a potent weapon.

By the time he showed up in South Africa for the 2020 Under-19 World Cup, Farooqi had already become a regular in Afghanistan's domestic circuit. A T20I debut followed in 2021, and his performances in the shortest format led to his ODI debut in early 2022.

He had an indifferent showing in the 2022 T20 World Cup, but went into the 2023 ODI World Cup in form, picking 12 wickets from six games against Bangladesh and Pakistan. He picked up six wickets in the World Cup, including four in a career-best performance in a win against Sri Lanka.

It wasn't long before franchises began to show interest in him, and he soon found himself in a tussle with the Afghanistan Cricket Board. He, along with team-mates Mujeeb-ur-Rahman and Naveen-ul-Haq, approached the board asking to be released from their central contracts so they could be available for more franchise leagues. The board responded by revoking their NOCs and denying them further NOCs for the next two years. The situation was resolved with the board agreeing to grant them a limited number of NOCs and slapping them with financial penalties.

Farooqi then played a starring role as Afghanistan reached the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time in the 2024 T20 edition. He grabbed his first five-wicket haul in their tournament-opener against Uganda, and followed it up with a four-for in a big win over New Zealand. With 17 strikes, ten of which came in the powerplay, he finished the World Cup as the joint-leading wicket-taker and further established his credentials as a menace with the new, white ball.

- Left-arm swing bowler Fazalhaq Farooqi first made it to the IPL in 2022, when Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) picked him at the mega auction for INR 50 lakh. Along with Marco Jansen, Farooqi was SRH's only overseas frontline quick that season.

- He went wicketless across eight overs in his first two games in 2022, but dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and Jonny Bairstow in his third match. Overall, he was expensive with the ball, with an economy rate of 9.16.

- Come 2023, Farooqi got only four games for SRH. But this time, he struck straightaway, by bagging Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal to start the season. He had a better time in his second year with SRH, who then chose to bench him for the entire IPL 2024.

- SRH released Farooqi ahead of the mega auction in 2025 even as he was the joint-highest wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup 2024. But he found a new team in Rajasthan Royals, who paid him INR 2 crore for IPL 2025.