Rashid Khan, one of the world’s youngest cricketers who played for the Afghanistan cricket team, has a passion for cricket, despite living in one of the most terrorist-prone countries.Not only for Afghanistan, he plays all over the world. Khan plays for Sunrisers Hyderabad and Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League, Adelaide Strikers in the Australian Big Bash League and Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Rashid Khan‘s Early Life
Rashid Khan was born on September 20, 1998 in Nangarhar, Afghanistan to a middle class family with 10 siblings. Rashid originally hails from Afghanistan, but due to the Afghan war, he, along with his family, also lived in Pakistan for a few years. He bowls leg spin and bats right-handed. Khan idolises Pakistan’s all-rounder Shahid Afridi, and his bowling action also resembles that of him.
International Career and Achievements
Rashid Khan made his ODI debut at the age of 17 against Zimbabwe on October 18, 2015, and has since gone on to achieve great things for himself and Afghanistan cricket.
Khan made his T20 debut on October 26, 2015 vs Zimbabwe. However, he had to wait for three years to play his debut test match against India on June 14, 2018, which was also Afghanistan’s first test match ever.
Some of the Afghan leg spinner's accomplishments and records are as follows:
- He was one of the key players who played in the first ever test match for Afghanistan.
- In addition, he became the most expensive bowler in his test match debut.
- At the age of 19, he topped the ICC Bowler Rankings in One-Day Internationals, becoming the youngest player to do so.
- He also reached the top in February 2019 in the ICC Bowler Rankings in T20.
- In March 2018, Khan became the quickest bowler to achieve 100 ODI wickets in 44 matches, surpassing the previous record of Australia’s Mitchell Starch, who achieved this feat in 52 matches.
- In March 2018, at the age of 19, Rashid also became the youngest to lead Afghanistan for the first time in an ODI.
- Khan also reached the top of the ICC all rounder rankings in September 2018.
- At the young age of 20, he also became the youngest captain ever to lead a side in a Test match. It was against Bangladesh in September 2019, and Afghanistan won that match by 224 runs.
- Khan scored a fifty. In his first ever test match as captain, he became the youngest test captain to score 50+ and got a 10 wicket haul in the match, becoming the first and youngest bowler for Afghanistan to do so.
- After the Mens world cup 2019 Rashid Khan was appointed as the captain of the Afghanistan team in all three formats. However, in December 2019, he was replaced by the former captain, Asghar Afghan.
- In December 2020, the ICC named Rashid Khan as the Men’s T20 Player of the Decade.
IPL Career
Rashid Khan made his IPL debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad in 2017 after being purchased for 4 crores, becoming the league’s first Afghan player.He finished the tournament with 17 wickets in the 14 matches of the tournament.
For the next four years (2018–2021), he played for the same team, Sunrisers Hydreabad, in the year 2018. With 21 wickets in the tournament, he also emerged as the second highest wicket taker in that season.
Currently, in the year 2022, he is playing for Gujarat Titans, who are also playing in their first ever IPL edition. Gujarat Titans paid 15 crores for him, making him one of the most expensive players in the IPL season 2022.
Till now, he has played 79 IPL matches with 98 wickets at an Economy of 6.34.
You may also like: Harshal Patel – Biography and Cricket Stats
