Shapoor Zadran Height, Age, Death, Children, Family, Biography » StarsUnfolded

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shapoor Zadran

• Shapoor Zadran was introduced to the game of cricket at an early age, and he played at the Arbab Niaz Stadium and Gymkhana Peshawar.

• He began playing with the hard ball in 2001 and had a vision of playing for Pakistan.

• It didn’t go his way with officials there, and around this time, Afghanistan started hiring coach Iqbal Sikander, who introduced him into the Afghanistan system.

• He was trained by Rahmat bhai, a first class cricketer of Pakistan in Peshawar where he learned the fundamentals of bowling.

• He got better with the addition of Kabir Khan as coach in 2008.

• When he found he was not able to represent his home country, he went to Pakistan to pursue his cricketing dreams before making his debut for Afghanistan.

• Zadran made his international debut in 2009 for Afghanistan, and claimed 4 wickets for 24 runs on his ODI debut against Netherlands.

• He went on to play his first T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka in 2012.

• Along with his speed, his long hair flowing while running in to the bowlers was a common feature on the pitch.

• He also had a game in the Bangladesh Premier League with Khulna Royal Bengals as the owner of the club, Salman Karim, had called him directly and invited him to join the club.

• The left arm pacer rose to greater fame at the 2015 ODI World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
  

  Shapoor Zadran during 2015 World Cup

• He took 4 wickets for 38 runs from Scotland and did not get out on 12 runs and scored the winning runs in the match.

• The victory was the first for Afghanistan in World Cup history and his sprint after the winning shot was one of the most iconic moments in Afghan cricket.

• He took 10 wickets in the tournament, to become Afghanistan’s top wicket taker. In October 2025, Zadran fell ill in Afghanistan.

• They recommended him to go to India for treatment and he arrived in January 2026 in New Delhi.

• Doctors had initially diagnosed the upset stomach, but it was a much deeper problem.

• He developed high fever and tested positive for dengue, and his red blood cell count dropped drastically.

• He then had a bone marrow examination, which confirmed that he had a rare and life-threatening disease called Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in which the immune system begins to fail.

• HLH primarily strikes children and leads to a hyperinflammatory state which injures tissues of the body such as the bone marrow, liver, spleen and lymph nodes.

• Zadran was initially treated well and after some 20 days, discharged from hospital, but then his condition deteriorated and he was readmitted to hospital.

• In May 2026, doctors admitted him to the intensive care unit, as he had been infected again and his red blood cell count had dropped even further.

• He was accompanied by his younger brother Ghamai Zadran and former Afghanistan captain Asghar Afghan and he remained with him in India during the treatment.

• During this time, Ghamai talked about the family’s situation.

• The family were financially stable and were not in need of financial aid, he said, and they just wanted prayer for their brother.

• He was visited twice by Allah Ghazanfar, Mumbai Indians, who offered him help in shifting him to the Ambani Hospital, if necessary, when Mumbai faced Delhi in an IPL match.

• Shapoor Zadran died on 7 July 2026 at a hospital in Greater Noida, just a day short of his 39th birthday.

• He was confirmed dead by his younger brother Ghamai Zadran.

• The Afghanistan Cricket Board announced the news and mourned his death.

• ICC Chairman Jay Shah also paid tribute to Zadran.

• He called Zadran one of the most influential players in Afghanistan’s progress in international cricket and recalled his match winning all round performance against Scotland in the 2015 World Cup which brought Afghanistan’s first World Cup victory.

• The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) deferred two days of cricket in the 11th edition of Shpageeza Cricket League in honour of Zadran.

• It canceled the fixtures to be played on 8th and 9th July 2026.

• The body of Zadran arrived at Kabul International Airport at 4 pm on 8 July 2026 and the family was then transferred to his house in Sadr e Azam Township in Bagrami district.
  

  Shapoor Zadran’s body being taken to Afghanistan

• He was buried at Maranjan Hill following funeral prayers at Eidgah Mosque in Kabul at 10 am on 9 July 2026.