Afghanistan’s sensational bowler Rashid Khan has become one of the most popular names in the cricket world. He is one of the mainstays behind the rise of Afghanistan cricket at the highest level. The star bowler was recently in news for threatening to pull out of the BBL, where he plays for Adelaide Strikers, following Cricket Australia’s decision to withdraw its men’s team from a bilateral ODI series against Afghanistan in March.
“I am really disappointed to hear that Australia have pulled out of the series to play us in March,” Rashid Tweeted. “I take great pride in representing my country, and we have made great progress on the world stage. This decision from CA sets us back in that journey. If playing vs Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia, then I wouldn’t want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL. Therefore, I will be strongly considering my future in that competition.”
Rashid Khan’s statements earned support from Afghanistan’s male cricketers. The Afghanistan Cricket Board also supported Rashid and called Cricket Australia’s statement “pathetic”.
As the star bowler continues to make news, here, in this article, we will discuss some lesser-known facts about him and will also share his interesting cricketing journey so far.
Family and Childhood:
Rashid Khan was born on 20th September 1998 in Nangarhar, Afghanistan into a big family. He has ten siblings and during his childhood, he used to play cricket with them. Rashid was the youngest among his siblings. He has made all of his siblings proud by playing the best possible cricket for his country at the highest level. While Rashid’s bowling idol is Pakistan’s great Shahid Afridi, but when it comes to batting, he is a huge fan of Indian batting maestro Virat Kohli.
International Break:
On 18th October 2015, Rashid Khan made his One Day International (ODI) debut for Afghanistan against Zimbabwe. Interestingly, he also made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut against Zimbabwe on 26th October 2015.
Rashid Khan played in the 2016 U-19 World Cup for Afghanistan. He was the highest wicket-taker for his country there with 10 scalps in 6 matches.
Two years after his debut in the national team, Rashid picked his maiden T20I five-wicket haul at the second T20I against Ireland, on 10th March 2017. His bowling spell is hailed as the best bowling performance by an Afghan cricketer in a T20I match. It is also the joint fourth-best figure in all T20Is as he picked 5 wickets in two overs in a T20I match.
In the ODI series against Ireland, Rashid picked up six wickets. His second ODI five-wicket haul came on June 9th during a match against West Indies, where he finished with the figures of 7 wickets for 18 runs. In January 2018, he was named the Associate Cricketer of the Year by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and ever since then, there has been no turning backs for the cricketer.
Rashid became the fastest bowler to take 100 wickets in One Day International, reaching the milestone in just 44 innings, 8 innings fewer than previous record-holder Mitchell Starc.
Talking about his T20I records, he became the fastest bowler to take 50 T20I wickets in terms Of, in just 2 years & 220 days. His bowling average of 12.63 is the best in the history of T20I.
Test Career:
Rashid Khan was named in Afghanistan’s squad for their inaugural Test match, played against India in May 2018. He made his Test debut against India and conceded 154 runs in the first innings of the match. He became the first bowler to concede more than 150 runs in their inaugural Test appearance of any player’s country.
In February 2019, he was named in Afghanistan’s Test squad for their one-off match against Ireland in India. He put up a stellar show with the ball as he picked five wickets for 82 runs,[47] becoming the first bowler for Afghanistan to take a five-wicket haul in a Test match. He became the youngest-ever captain to lead a country in a test match in 2019 against Bangladesh. He was 20 years and 350 days old at that time.
2019 Cricket World Cup:
Rashid is the youngest cricketer to captain a side in ODIs at the age of 19 years and 165 days. He led his side in the qualifiers of the ICC 2019 World Cup. ICC named him as one of the five exciting talents making their Cricket World Cup debut. During the World Cup match against Australia, he played his 100th international cricket match. On 18 June 2019 is one of the most forgettable days of his life as he bowled the most expensive spell in a Cricket World Cup match, conceding 110 runs from his nine overs against England.
Captaincy:
Following the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Rashid was appointed as captain of the Afghanistan cricket team across all three formats. He played his first Test match as the skipper against Bangladesh in September 2019 and scripted a win by 224 runs. He also became the first bowler for Afghanistan to take a 10-wicket haul in the longest format of the game and score a fifty in the same match. 3 months after his appointment as captain, he was replaced by Asghar Afghan as the national captain across all three formats.
Recently, in December 2022, Rashid was once again appointed as captain of Afghanistan in the shortest format of the game, after Mohammad Nabi resigned from captaincy following the 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Franchise Leagues:
In franchise leagues, he plays for Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Adelaide Strikers in Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL), Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), and Band-e-Amir Dragons in Afghanistan’s Shpageeza Cricket League.
Indian Premier League:
Rashid is the 2nd Afghan player after Mohammad Nabi to get a bid in the IPL auction. He was bought by SunRisers Hyderabad for INR 4 crore in 2017. He became an integral part of the team and gave many match-winning performances.
He was released ahead of the 2022 mega-auction and was later bought by Gujarat Titans. He played as the vice-captain for the Gujarat Titans in IPL 2022.
Net Worth:
His estimated net worth is $3 million.