Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan will become the youngest captain in the history of international cricket in their World Cup Qualifier campaign in Zimbabwe this weekend.

Afghanistan have confirmed that Rashid will replace regular skipper Asghar Stanikzai, who was forced to undergo surgery for appendicitis.

Rashid will be 19 years and 165 days for their opening match on Sunday, when he will become the first teenager to captain a men’s international side and the youngest player ever, male or female, to captain a full international match.

Former Bangladesh skipper Rajin Saleh holds the current ODI record having led his country in 2004 at the age of 20 years and 297 days.

It continues a dream beginning to 2018 for Rashid, who was a crucial part of Adelaide’s triumphant KFC BBL campaign earlier in the summer.

He then took 16 wickets at 7.93 in Afghanistan’s 4-1 series win over Zimbabwe, seeing him become the youngest man and the only teenager to be ranked No.1 by the International Cricket Council.

And there could be more success for him in Zimbabwe, where he could well become the fastest-ever bowler to reach 100 ODI wickets. He currently has 86 from 37 games and is on track to beat Mitchell Starc’s record of 52.

Afghanistan are one of the favourites for the 10-team qualifier tournament, with the top two nations to progress to next year’s World Cup in the UK.

The current world No 10 will take on Zimbabwe, Nepal, Hong Kong and Scotland in Group B, with their first game to come against the Scots on Sunday.

Group A consists of West Indies, Ireland, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates and Papua New Guinea.

The Afghans laid down a marker for the tournament on Tuesday as fast bowler Dawlat Zadran took a hat-trick in a comfortable warm-up victory over the Windies in Harare.

Youngest captains:

Tests – Tatenda Taibu, Zimbabwe, 20y, 358d
ODIs – Rajin Saleh, Bangladesh, 20y, 297d
T20Is – Rodney Trott, Bermuda, 20y, 332d