Azmatullah Omarzai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Azmatullah Omarzai

• In his childhood, Azmatullah Omarzai used to play football daily; however, later, chose to play cricket.

• Once, in a media conversation, he shared that he and his brothers were not allowed to go outside the house after sunset. However, in 2014, when the Afghanistan cricket team won a match against Bangladesh in the Asia Cup, his father became happy and would often inquire about the game.

• Following Afghanistan’s win, his father allowed Azmatullah Omarzai and his brothers to go out and celebrate the win.

• Omarzai’s father once inquired if Azmatullah had any aspirations to pursue cricket professionally. Omarzai expressed his love for the game and told about his previous involvement in street cricket with a tennis ball.

• Soon, encouraged by his son’s passion, Azmatullah Omarzai’s father permitted him to pursue cricket further.

• When he was 14 years old, he began playing cricket.

  

• On 10 August 2017, he played his first List A match for Mis Ainak Region in the Ghazi Amanullah Khan Regional One-Day Tournament.

• On 25 March 2018, Azmatullah Omarzai made his first-class debut for Speen Ghar Region in the Ahmad Shah Abdali 4-day Tournament.

• In September 2018, he was selected in Paktia’s team for the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament, where he made his Twenty20 debut for Paktia Panthers on 7 October 2018.

  

• In September 2020, he was honoured with the Player of the Tournament award (joint) in the Shpageeza Cricket League.

  

• Azmatullah Omarzai was selected for Afghanistan’s cricket team in the 2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup in December 2017.

  

• He was also part of Afghanistan’s under-23 team in the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.

  

• In November 2019, Azmatullah Omarzai represented Afghanistan’s cricket team in the 2019 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Bangladesh.

• He represented Afghanistan’s Twenty20 International (T20I) team in their series against Ireland in February 2020.

• In January 2021, Azmatullah Omarzai was named in Afghanistan’s One Day International (ODI) team for their series against Ireland.

• On 21 January 2021, he made his One Day International (ODI) debut for Afghanistan against Ireland.

  

• In March 2021, the Afghanistan Cricket Board confirmed that his selection was pending for the T20I matches against Zimbabwe. The board announced that his visa issues needed to be resolved before he could play.

• In February 2022, Azmatullah Omarzai was selected in Afghanistan’s T20I team for their series against Bangladesh.

• He made his T20I debut for the Afghanistan cricket team against Bangladesh on 3 March 2022.

• He then participated in the 2023 Cricket World Cup representing the Afghanistan cricket team.

• Azmatullah Omarzai likes travelling to distant places and playing snooker in his free time.

  

• He is a fitness enthusiast and goes to the gym regularly. He often shares pictures of his gym sessions on social media.

  

• Azmatullah Omarzai is inspired by cricketers Virat Kohli and Mohammad Nabi.

  

• Once, during a media interview, he remembered his participation in street cricket alongside his elder brothers in his childhood. He said that once during a cricket match where their opponents required 15-16 runs with five wickets in hand, Omarzai was said to ball by his team’s captain. Despite being an off-spinner at the time, Omarzai took the opportunity and turned the game in his team’s favour by claiming four wickets in a single over and securing the victory.