for Afghanistan in Twenty20 cricket. He reached his half-century from 26 balls and finished with 75 off of 36 balls. 2019 Cricket World Cup and beyond In April 2019, Shahzad was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. However, on 6 June 2019, he was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury, and was replaced by Ikram Ali Khil. Later in an interview, Shahzad said that he had no health problem but despite, that he was removed from the World Cup matches by the Afghan cricket board. He also said that it does not seem that he will return to the team. In September 2021, he was named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. On 31 October 2021, in Afghanistan's T20 World Cup match against Namibia, Shahzad became the first player for Afghanistan to score 2,000 runs in T20I cricket. Twenty20 franchise cricket In September 2016, Shahzad was signed by the Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) ahead of the draft for the 2016 season. On his BPL debut for the Riders, he scored 80 runs not out in a big nine-wicket win. In a match against the Barisal Bulls, Shahzad broke the record for the most dismissals by a wicket-keeper in a BPL match with five (two catches and three stumpings), but this record was equalled by Umar Akmal in a match against the Riders later in the season. Three stumpings is also the most stumpings by a wicket-keeper in a BPL match. During a match against the Rajshahi Kings, Shahzad made physical contact with Sabbir Rahman with his bat. He was found guilty of violating Article 2.1.1 of the BCB's Code of Conduct and was fined 30% of his match fee and suspended for two matches. Shahzad was Rangpur's leading run-scorer for the season with 350 runs from 11 matches and a strike-rate of 110. In October 2018, he was named in the squad for the Chittagong Vikings team, following the draft for the BPL's 2018–19 season. In September 2018, Shahzad was named in Paktia's squad in the first edition of the Afghanistan Premier League tournament. Before the tournament, Shahzad was approached by a match-fixer, requesting he underperform in the tournament. He was the leading run-scorer in the tournament, with 344 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of 174.61. Domestic cricket Due to spending