MS Dhoni's THIS long-standing, huge international record broken by Afghanistan

Afghanistan, on the back of Najibullah Zadran’s 35-ball 72*, defeated Zimbabwe by 47 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, March 20. With the win, the Asghar Afghan-led side pocketed the three-match T20I series by a 3-0 margin. Remarkably, captain Afghan broke a coveted captaincy record of former Indian skipper MS Dhoni with his latest win.

Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe: Afghanistan players celebrate series-clinching win

Clean sweep for Afghanistan!

They defeat Zimbabwe by 47 runs in the final T20I to win the series 3-0 👏#AFGvZIM ➡️ https://t.co/iMEqGstuvF

📸 @AbuDhabiCricket pic.twitter.com/76lWbac1uL

— ICC (@ICC)

Afghanistan vs Zimbabwe: Asghar Afghan goes past MS Dhoni

Asghar Afghan-led Afghanistan to three wins on the trot to mark a 3-0 series win over Zimbabwe. Interestingly, the win in the third T20I was Afghan’s 42nd win as the captain of his national side. He overtook MS Dhoni’s 41 wins as Indian captain to become the most successful T20I skipper in the world.

While MS Dhoni’s 41 T20I wins came from 72 matches, Afghan’s 42 victories came from just 52 games. The senior Afghanistan cricketer first led his national side in the truncated format back in 2015. Since then, the veteran has also led Afghanistan to 33 wins in 58 ODIs and two Test wins out of four matches. Overall, Afghan is also the most successful captain in his country’s history across all international formats.

ICC congratulates Asghar Afghan for overtaking MS Dhoni

🚨 NEW RECORD HOLDER 🚨

Asghar Afghan overtakes MS Dhoni's record of most men's T20I wins as captain with 42 👏#AFGvZIM pic.twitter.com/eBffSDwOec

— ICC (@ICC)

Afghanistan cricket schedule 2021: International and IPL

Afghanistan players will now resume their 2021 cricketing commitments in September with a home series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) against Pakistan. Prior to their international assignments, their players will depart for India for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2021 (IPL 2021) season. Three Afghanistan players, i.e. Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb ur Rahman, are scheduled to take part in the tournament. Interestingly, they will all be playing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) this year.

A look at Afghanistan cricket schedule 2021

September: Afghanistan vs Pakistan, three ODIs in UAE

October and November: ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in India

November: Australia vs Afghanistan, one-off Test match in Australia

SRH schedule for IPL 2021 season

Image source: ICC and BCCI Twitter