As of June 2024, Nabi holds a unique record of having been an integral part of Afghanistan side in defeating 45 different nations in across all international cricket.

[11][12] He started playing cricket in Peshawar at the age of 10,[11] and his family moved back to Afghanistan in 2000, where he began playing cricket with Mohammad Shahzad, Asghar Afghan and Shapoor Zadran, all of whom would later become important members of the Afghan national team.

[13] Nabi played his first competitive match in 2003 for an Afghanistan team against the Rahim Yar Khan Cricket Association.

[13] In 2006, Nabi played for Afghanistan in a tour match against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Mumbai, India.

He top-scored for Afghanistan with 116 in a big win,[15] and was noticed by former English Test captain Mike Gatting.

[16] While with the MCC Nabi made his first-class debut in a tour match against Sri Lanka A in 2007, top-scoring for his team in the first innings with 43 runs.

[18] Mohammad was part of Afghanistan's "staggering" rise from Division Five of the World Cricket League to One Day International status.

[25][26] Nabi played his first first-class match for Afghanistan in the 2009–10 ICC Intercontinental Cup against a Zimbabwe XI, scoring a century and taking 3/90 in the first innings.

[31] In March 2013, Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) announced that Nabi would lead the national side in the ICC Intercontinental Cup in the UAE, after Nawroz Mangal was stripped of the captaincy following his dismal show in the limited-over series in Pakistan the previous month.

[34] Nabi's poor form continued after resigning the captaincy until Afghanistan's bilateral ODI series against Zimbabwe.

[35] Nabi took on major responsibility in the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 to help Afghanistan win against Hong Kong and Zimbabwe in the group stage.

Nabi took a catch, took a wicket bowling and effected a run-out during the match but England hung on to win by 15 runs.

[50] In September 2021, he was named as captain in Afghanistan's squad for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup.

[55] His all-round performance helped Afghanistan to clinch first ever win over Pakistan in any format of international cricket.

He performed well for the Royals with both bat and ball, particularly bowling well at the start of innings, and he finished the tournament as the team's leading wicket-taker with 18 wickets.

[67] Nabi played for the Quetta Gladiators in the 2016 Pakistan Super League, the inaugural season of the tournament.

[68] Nabi left the tournament early to play for Afghanistan in the 2016 Asia Cup Qualifier and was replaced in the side by Nathan McCullum.

[74] In January 2018, Nabi was again bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 2018 IPL auction, this time for 1 crore,[75] but he still only played two matches.

[76] In February 2022, he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders in the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League tournament.

[79] In a match against Lancashire he scored 86 runs from 32 balls to help secure a five wicket victory for the side.

[86] Nabi has twice been found guilty of breaching the ICC Code of Conduct in international cricket matches, both times while playing against Ireland.