Is there anything Rashid Khan cannot do on a cricket field? An excellent white-ball cricketer, Rashid Khan now showed off his football skills and got a huge cheer from the crowd at the Chepauk during the match against New Zealand.
Fresh from a massive upset over England, Afghanistan met New Zealand for their World Cup 2023 group-stage encounter on Wednesday at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.
During the 37th over of New Zealand’s innings, which was Rashid Khan’s 7th over, the Afghan leggie proved that he could a worthy football player as well.
On the 5th ball of the over, Glenn Phillips defended the ball back to Rashid. Instead of picking up the ball with his hand, Rashid Khan used his right foot to bounce the ball about 6-7 times in succession. The Chepauk crowd too got into the act and gave a huge roar for Rashid Khan as he juggled the ball with his foot before walking back to his mark.
Watch: Rashid Khan juggles cricket ball to show his football skills; crowd gives a big cheer
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Meanwhile, New Zealand have posted a big total of 288 runs, which could be enough in Chennai. Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi won the toss and elected to field first in Chennai against New Zealand. Shahidi had reasoned dew as the main reason for his electing to bowl first.
Captain Tom Latham scored 88 runs while Phillips scored 71 runs. For Afghanistan, Naveen took two wickets in the death overs and Azmatullah Omarzai bagged two wickets in the middle overs phase. An interesting run-chase could be on the cards if dew arrives. Will we see another upset today?
Teams:
New Zealand (Playing XI): Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Latham(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Mark Chapman, Mitchell Santner, Matt Henry, Lockie Ferguson, Trent Boult
Afghanistan (Playing XI): Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmat Shah, Hashmatullah Shahidi(c), Azmatullah Omarzai, Ikram Alikhil(w), Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazalhaq Farooqi
