Rashid Khan seems to be ‘hurt’ over Cricket Australia’s indefinite postponement of a T20 series. CA cited it’s talks with the Australian government about “a marked deterioration in human rights of women and girls” under the regime of Taiban as the prime reason for this step.
The series was a part of ICC’s ‘future tours’ programme and was supposed to be held at a neutral value. The series however got postponed in January.
In talks with ESPNcricinfo on Tuesday in Ahmedabad, where his team is set to play a match against Delhi capitals, Rashid said “It does hurt you. You do want to play against the best teams and that’s where your cricket is going to improve more and more. You only get the opportunity playing against them [Australia] in the World Cups, but not in bilateral series.”
Rashid is set to lead the Afghanistan team for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June. He said that playing bilateral matches against big teams like Australia and India help us gain confidence as a team. He also gave an example of the 3-match T20I series against India wherein Afghans lost the series 3-0.
“Recently, we played three T20s against India, and it helped us a lot,” he said. “We nearly chased 200 [212] against India. Imagine if you wouldn’t have played that, where would the confidence come from? Playing against big teams is huge for us.”
It is to be noted that this is not the first time CA has stood up on bilateral engagement with Afghanistan. A similar incident had taken place in 2021 when the first ever test match, or what would have been the first test match between the two teams was indefinitely postponed and in 2023 when an ODI series between the two teams was called off.
IT IS AN ISSUE OF THE GOVERNMENTS, WHY IS IT HURTING CRICKET?
About the Australian government and CA’s concerns regarding the Taliban regime, Rashid said “It is an issue of the governments to resolve. As a player you can’t do much about it. What hurts the most is when things like thus happen, why is it hurting Cricket (in Afghanistan)?”
Reflecting on the sentiments of the people in afghanistan, Rashid said “Cricket is the only source back home in Afghanistan which give people happiness,” he said. “And if you are taking that happiness [away] from the people as well, you are hurting more people as well back home. And that is something which I feel like is more hurting as a captain where you are so excited as a youngster playing against Australia and then this thing just happens.”
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO PLAY WITH MY COUNTRY, WHY WANT ME?
Showcasing a good example of brotherhood with his teammates and responsibility towards his country, Rashid expressed his sentiments on being chosen to play the BBL while the bilateral series keep getting postponed.
“You don’t want to play with my colleagues and you want to play with me? So what’s the difference? It means I’m putting my colleagues down as well. My country down as well. So if I’m playing there, if money in these things comes, nothing is bigger than my country. Money will just go and come. That’s not the point.” He further added that he is only going to play with Australia for the BBL if the Afghanistan team gets to play against the Australians in a series.
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