On this day: An 18-year-old Rashid Khan rips apart West Indies with fourth-best ODI figures

Rashid Khan's seven-wicket haul made sure that Afghanistan defeated the West Indies by seven wickets in St Lucia.

Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan is currently an established figure, both at the international and domestic level, having picked nearly 700 wickets combining first-class, List A and T20 cricket. But back in 2017, the leg-spinner was still taking baby steps among the big boys of cricket.

However, he was a tough customer to deal with for opponents because of the skills he possessed. Five years ago, on this very day, he ripped apart the West Indies in an ODI with a spell of 8.4-1-18-7 at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, Gros Islet in St Lucia.

Out of 52 balls, the then 18-year-old bowled as many as 42 dot balls. His stupendous spell of bowling helped the Afghans defeat the Caribbean team by 63 runs. Rashid made sure that the hosts were bowled out for a meagre 149 in 44.4 overs.

Rashid also got decent support from Dawlat Zadran, Mohammad Nabi, Amir Hamza and Gulbadin Naib. His spell currently remains the fourth-best bowling figures in ODI cricket. Chaminda Vaas has the best bowling figures, followed by Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Australia’s Glenn McGrath.

Among them, Sri Lanka’s Vaas is the only one with an eight-wicket haul in the 50-over format. He accomplished the feat against Zimbabwe back in December 2001 in Colombo.

As far as Rashid is concerned, after making his debut in the format back in 2015, the spinner has picked up 155 wickets from 82 matches at an economy rate of 4.17 with five four-wicket hauls and four five-wicket hauls.