He’s the world’s foremost exponent of leg-spin, at least, in this day an age of the game. Perhaps, Dane van Niekerk and Sune Luus can spin the ball more or maybe, Rangana Herath in his days had more authority over the batsmen much like Warne’s foxiness, but there’s no denying the fact that Rashid Khan has lorded over the game in the recent times.
He’s a clever bowler, very miserly and hard to score off. Bowls with a bit more speed you’d think especially when considering the likes of say a Yuzvendra Chahal. But that being said, Rashid Khan is cricket’s enigma of the East, a superstar of a country ever so desperate for heroes. And not to forget, the very country that today, has fallen into the hands of the dreaded Taliban.
But as with every story of success where there’s ecstasy, there’s also that thing called agony.
And where Afghanistan cricket stands at the moment, then it’s more strange than sad to know that Rashid Khan is no longer its captain.
Well, not in the least of the team that’s to compete in the T20I world cup in the UAE.
For the longest time, Afghanistan have tried to rise to prominence and make their own space in the game that fuels passionate fans back home. It’s something they’ve gone on to achieve, with emphatic success in the shortest form, going on to knock the socks off opponents even like the West Indies, considered kings of T20Is.
But how will that site be that has a Rashid Khan, albeit no longer in the captain’s role.
To his defence, the famous leg-spinner with 269 international wickets says the team was decided without his consent or approval or involvement of any sort.
Why did the Afghan cricket board do such a thing? Why would you not take into consideration the views and assessments of a man you’ve yourself elected as the captain of the side?
For someone who made his international debut just days after his seventeenth birthday (vs Zimbabwe, 2015), Rashid Khan has done more than just give half a decade of his life to Afghanistan.
He’s inspired countless many to pick up the tricks of the game and opt for the ball in a batsman-favouring game.
That’s really not the kind of treatment you expect a board to be extending to its first-rate cricketer, one regarded just as much as he’s feared by batsmen around.
Though that said, here’s what Rashid Khan said over the matter of the team’s selection without his involvement in an sort:
Early in the day, the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) named Rashid as the captain while veteran wicket-keeper Mohammad Shahzad was also included in the 15-member squad for the showpiece event, starting next month. “As the captain and responsible person for the nation I reserve the right to be part of the selection of the team,” the 22-year-old spinner said in a post shared on his twitter handle.
“The selection committee and ACB has not obtained my consent for the team which has been announced by ACB media. I am taking the decision of stepping down from the role as the captain of Afghanistan T20 side effective immediately. It’s always my proud playing for Afghanistan.”
It must be said that Afghanistan Cricket Board should really think about what has happened and give it a real think as to how they can get someone like the ace spinner or Rashid Khan himself back as the team’s leader.