Shahzad played in the 2009 ICC World Cup Qualifiers, where Afghanistan gained ODI status. In August 2009, Shazad made his first-class debut against a Zimbabwe XI.

During Afghanistan's tour to the Netherlands in 2009, Shahzad made Afghan cricketing history by becoming the first Afghan to score a century in a One Day International match, scoring 110 runs as Afghanistan won the match by 6 wickets.

In January 2010, Shahzad played a key role in Afghanistan's win over Ireland, with scores of 88 in Afghanistan's first-innings and an unbeaten 42 to lead Afghanistan to a 7 wicket victory.

In February 2010, Shahzad made his Twenty20 International debut against Ireland, which Afghanistan lost by 5 wickets. Later in February, aged 18, Shahzad became the first Afghan to score a first-class double century when he scored 214* in Afghanistan's successful chase of 494 runs to beat Canada in the Intercontinental Cup.

Shahzad was a key member of Afghanistan's World Twenty20 Qualifier winning team. He was later named in Afghanistan's squad for the 2010 ICC World Twenty20.

Shahzad was a member of Afghanistan's 2010 ACC Trophy Elite winning squad, which defeated Nepal in the final by 95 runs.

During the 2012 ICC World Twenty20, he played in both of Afghanistan's matches against India and South Africa. In January 2012, he played in a side made up of some of the leading players from Associate and Affiliate teams, which was put together to face England in Dubai. The three-day match was part of England's preparation for a series against Pakistan later that month. Along with Mohammad Nabi and Hameed Hasan, Shahzad was one of three Afghanistan players included in the 12-man squad. During the match, he made two half century scores, which saw him become the first Afghan cricketer (excluding Salim Durani, who although born in Kabul, was Indian) to make 1,000 first-class career runs. He is also the first Afghan cricketer to pass 1,000 runs in List A cricket.

He set the record for the most number of dismissals as a wicketkeeper in a single T20I innings(5) and also set the new record for becoming the first wicketkeeper from any team to involve in 5 dismissals in a T20I.

During Zimbabwe tour in 2016, Shahzad scored the best innings of his life. With his magnificent century of 118 off 68, Shahzad has the most number of Twenty20 International Player of the match awards by an affiliate member with 8 T20I Player of the match awards. His score is currently the second highest T20I score by an associate player, after Hong Kong Babar Hayat's 122 runs.

On 8 March 2016, Shahzad became the first associate player to score 10 fifty plus scores in T