Fazalhaq Farooqi

He first appeared for Afghanistan in international cricket in 2021, aged 20, and was soon a regular in the country's limited-overs sides thanks to how rapidly he absorbed lessons. His threat with the new ball was clear from the start, but he also set about improving his work at the end of an innings. Dwayne Bravo, regarded as one of the finest exponents of death bowling, helped him in that area, both during a short stint as Afghanistan's fast bowling consultant and as a teammate of Farooqi's in several franchise competitions.

In 2022, only his second season at international level, nobody took more T20I wickets for Afghanistan than Farooqi. That same year brought his first taste of the IPL with Sunrisers Hyderabad, along with chances in other T20 leagues around the world.

At the 2023 ODI World Cup he claimed four wickets in an innings against Sri Lanka, though the rest of that campaign offered few highlights. A year later he was outstanding at the T20 World Cup staged in the West Indies and the USA, sharing top spot on the tournament's wicket-taking list and driving Afghanistan's progress to the semifinals, where South Africa ended their run. Later that same year Rajasthan Royals secured him for INR 2 crores ahead of IPL 2025.