Afghanistan superstar cricketer Rashid Khan has come forward with a noble gesture by declaring that he will donate all the match fees he’s set to earn playing in the World Cup 2023 to fundraisers for the victims of the earthquake that struck Afghanistan last Saturday.
A 6.3-magnitude earthquake occurred in Afghanistan on Saturday morning in Herat province, a land including villages. It’s been three days and the villagers are still using shovels to search for over 500 missing people.
The death count currently stands at 2500 and over 2000 people have been injured while over 500 are still missing. This is the second earthquake to hit Afghanistan – after a previous one in June 2022 which led to 1000 deaths.
“100% of homes are estimated to have been completely destroyed,” according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
“We came home and saw there was nothing left. Everything had turned to mud,” one resident Nek Mohammad told AFP news agency. “We started to dig with shovels and whatever we had to rescue women and children from the rubble.”
Rashid Khan donates entire World Cup 2023 match fees
Superstar leg-spinner Rashid Khan has decided to donate his entire match fees from the ongoing World Cup 2023 to the victims of the earthquake.
Expressing his grave concern and sadness, Rashid Khan tweeted “I learned with great sadness about the tragic consequences of the earthquake that struck the western provinces (Herat, Farah, and Badghis) of Afghanistan. I am donating all of my #CWC23 match fees to help the affected people. Soon, we will be launching a fundraising campaign to call upon those who can support the people in need.”
Talking about the Afghanistan cricket team, they began their World Cup with a loss to Bangladesh by 6 wickets in Dharamshala. Mehidy Hasan Miraz was the star of the game for his three-wicket haul and a half-century. Afghanistan were bowled out for 156 runs, which Bangladesh chased down with 6 wickets in hand.
Afghanistan’s next game is against India on October 11 in Delhi.
