International career Having previously represented his country at the under-15 level, Arafat made his
ODI debut for
Pakistan in 2000 when he was 17 years old against
Sri Lanka in
Karachi and took his first wicket in this match. He played just one more match the following year before being dropped. He was given a second chance at international cricket in the last ODI against
England in December 2005 and was retained for the
series against India in February 2006, but was left out of the ODI squad for the subsequent
tour in England. His next chance at international cricket came in the
2006 ICC Champions Trophy when he was one of the players called up to the Pakistan squad for the Champions Trophy to replace
Shoaib Akhtar and
Mohammad Asif who had both failed drug tests. In March 2007, he and
Mohammad Sami were called up as replacements in Pakistan's squad for the
2007 Cricket World Cup after
Shoaib Akhtar and
Mohammad Asif were ruled out through injury. On 8 December 2007, Arafat made his
Test match debut for Pakistan against India in
Bangalore in the third and final Test of the
series. He displayed his all-round abilities by taking 7 wickets in the match including a 5-wicket haul, and scoring 44 in the first innings. He was part of Pakistan squad for
2009 ICC World Twenty20 but was later replaced due to hamstring injury.
Domestic and T20 franchise career In English domestic cricket, he was signed as an overseas player for
Scotland as a replacement for
Rahul Dravid, and played for them in the
2004 and
2005 seasons. He was signed as an overseas player for
Sussex for the
2006 season to line up alongside fellow countrymen
Mushtaq Ahmed and
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, and helped the team to win the double of the
County Championship and the
C&G Trophy as well as mount a serious challenge in the
Pro40 League. He was signed up to play for
Kent in the
2007 season. In 2004, Arafat performed the extremely rare feat of taking five wickets in six balls for
Rawalpindi against the national champions
Faisalabad in the
Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. This had only been achieved three times previously in the entire history of first-class cricket: by
Bill Copson in 1937,
William Henderson in 1938 and
Pat Pocock in 1972. Arafat was the only bowler to take the wickets spread over two innings. In August 2008, it was reported that he was signed by
Kolkata Knight Riders to play in the
second season of the Indian Premier League tournament but the deal wasn't finalized due to tense atmosphere between India Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Following the 2008 season, Arafat signed once more for Sussex as their overseas player for 2009, signing to return again for another season in 2010. In 2011 he signed for Surrey County Cricket Club. He joined
Lancashire as an overseas player for the
2012 Friends Life t20. In November 2011, he was signed by
Canterbury to play in the
2011–12 HRV Cup. Arafat was signed to play in
Big Bash League franchise
Perth Scorchers in December 2013. In 2016, he was signed by Somerset from
Hampshire on a season-long loan deal as a non-overseas player. ==Coaching career==