Childhood & Early Life
Rashid Khan was born Rashid Khan Arman, on September 20, 1998, in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, into a huge family. He grew up with 10 siblings.
The 9/11 attacks took place when he was still quite young. This led to the commencement of a war in Afghanistan. As a result of the Afghan war, Rashid’s family moved to Pakistan. Rashid spent much his adolescence there.
A few years later, when the situation in Afghanistan improved significantly, Rashid’s family returned and he resumed his education. He was academically good and performed well consistently. He wanted to become a doctor but cricket was also on his mind.
The ‘Taliban’ had taken Afghanistan into its grasp and the condition of sports in the country was not good. Even Rashid’s own parents did not want him to play cricket for a living. Despite such hurdles, cricket blossomed in Afghanistan and Rashid became one of its flag-bearers.
Rashid was hugely inspired by Pakistani all-rounder Shahid Afridi and also modeled his bowling action on his. By the time he was in his late teens, Rashid had started playing cricket professionally.
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Career
Cricket was in an extremely juvenile state in Afghanistan when Rashid started to make a career in the game. He was given a chance to be in the national squad for the first time in 2015. He made his ODI debut against another weak team, Zimbabwe, on October 18, 2015. About a week later, he also made his Twenty20 international (T20I) debut against Zimbabwe.
Afghanistan was mostly known as an associate nation when it came to international cricket, which means it belonged to the category of weaker teams. Thus, most of the international matches that he played were against weaker teams such as Ireland and Zimbabwe.
Rashid was considered a very talented all-rounder who was primarily a bowler. He scored his first 5-wicket haul against Ireland in March 2017, giving away only 3 runs. This was the best performance by any Afghan player in a T20I match. It was also the joint fourth-best figure by any bowler in a T20I match. He also became the only player to take 5 wickets in just 2 overs in a T20I match.
During the same tour, Rashid took 6 wickets in an ODI match. By that time, Afghanistan was starting to be recognized as a significant team.
In June 2017, the Afghan team played against the West Indies, a much stronger team. In one of the ODI matches, Rashid took 7 wickets for 18 runs. He became the first associate nation player to take 7 wickets in an ODI. Afghanistan ended up winning that match, surprising everybody, and Rashid was named the ‘Man of the Match.’
Acknowledging this young talent, the ‘ICC’ honored Rashid as the ‘Associate Cricketer of the Year’ in 2018. He was named the captain of the Afghanistan team for the 2018 ‘World Cup Qualifier’ tournament. The ‘ICC’ also included Rashid on the list of players to look out for in the qualifiers.
In June 2018, the Afghanistan team qualified to play Test cricket. Their first match was against India, which was Rashid’s Test debut, too. However, his performance in the match was abysmal.
In February 2019, Rashid played in a Test match against Ireland. In the second innings of the match, he took 5 wickets. It was the first 5-wicket haul by any Afghan player in an international Test match.
Until now, Rashid has played 57 ODI matches and has scored 782 runs, with an average of 23.69. He has scored 4 half-centuries and is yet to hit his debut century. He has taken 123 wickets, with a bowling average of 15.00, and has had four 5-wicket hauls.
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He has played in 38 T20I matches and has scored 123 runs, with a bad average of 13.66. He has not scored even a half-century yet in the T20I format. However, his bowling performance has been a lot better. He has taken 75 T20I wickets, with a bowling average of 11.56.
Rashid has been consistently pursued by international and local clubs, too. In 2016, he played for the Bangladeshi team ‘Comilla Victorians,’ as part of the ‘Bangladesh Cricket League.’
He has also been associated with the ‘Caribbean Premier League’ team ‘Guyana Amazon Warriors,’ the ‘IPL’ team ‘Sunrisers Hyderabad,’ and the Australian ‘Big Bash League’ team ‘Adelaide Strikers.’
Locally, he plays for ‘Kabul Zwanan’ of the ‘Afghanistan Premier League.’
Records & Achievements
Rashid Khan was ranked at the top spot in the ‘ICC Player Rankings’ for ODI bowlers in February 2018. At the age of 19, he was the youngest bowler to top the rankings. The same month, he was also at the top of the ‘ICC Player Rankings’ for T20I bowlers.
A few months later, he aced the ‘ICC’ all-rounder rankings.
In March 2018, he captained the Afghan team in the ‘World Cup Qualifier’ tournament, becoming the youngest player ever to lead an international team.
