From Kabul to Lord’s in six days - T20’s most-wanted man, Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan, the most successful bowler in T20 cricket, once again demonstrated his extraordinary skills in front of 26,000 at Lord’s on Tuesday as he helped Oval Invincibles make a winning start in defence of their Hundred title.

It was some contrast to six days earlier when the 26-year-old had been playing in front of a packed stadium in Kabul. Life is hardly normal in Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. The country’s leading women’s cricketers, who are banned from playing in their own country, live in exile in Australia. But a 12-day men’s tournament, the Shpageeza Cricket League, was held at the Alokozay stadium last month and there was an expectation on the top players to be involved.

Khan has played a phenomenal amount of cricket around the world since 2015, but just 22 of his 483 appearances in T20 cricket have come in his native country. He has played 216 times for Afghanistan across all three formats, but never represented his country on home soil. Due to a combination of safety fears and disapproval of the Taliban regime, few foreign cricketers are prepared to visit. Afghanistan play their “home” games on neutral territory such as in India or the UAE.

Khan, in orange, flips the coin for Speenghar Tigers in Afghanistan’s Shpageeza Cricket League… ACB MEDIA

… the competition draws fanatical crowds who adore watching their local heroes AHMAD SAHEL ARMAN/AFP

Khan says the Shpageeza drew fanatical crowds. “They were big, they’re always big, they love watching us play,” he said. “The capacity [of the stadium] was not that big, but outside there were double or triple the number of people waiting. I was there for a week and there wasn’t a day when there weren’t people everywhere you go. They want pictures, they want selfies. The love you get is unbelievable.

“We hardly play any games at home so to go there and see the happiness on their faces is great. It’s massive for the young generation to see their players in the ground. They always watch on TV.”

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Khan hopes that one day foreign teams will go to Afghanistan to play — “it would be massive” — but it is hard to see that happening any time soon.

Until a back injury resulting in surgery in 2023 forced a rethink, Khan played virtually non-stop. In 2022 and 2023, he appeared in more than 70 matches, and he says the reason he never tires of playing is because it means so much to his countrymen.

Since Afghanistan achieved full international status in 2009, cricket has been a source of passion and immense pride — apart from India, they have beaten all the leading teams, including England twice — and Khan is the greatest of their heroes.

Afghanistan’s women’s team are banned from playing in their home country and live in exile in Australia MARTIN KEEP/AFP

“When you see the people back home in Afghanistan and the love they have for this game, that just keeps me going,” he says as we speak after an Invincibles training session at the Oval. “I have to give them that happiness when we win. When I played the other day [at Lord’s], they all celebrated. They were cheering for me. It’s the only source of happiness.

“That’s something which keeps me going, keeps me motivated, keeps me full of energy. I want to deliver something special for my team and the people.”

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Khan also hopes to one day play a Test match at Lord’s. “To play Test cricket against England at Lord’s is more than a dream. It would be the same feeling as winning a World Cup. Everyone wants to play Test cricket there.”

This, again, seems unlikely unless things change politically in Afghanistan. After the Taliban banned women from playing sport, working or being educated under the age of 12, there were calls for England to boycott their match against the Afghan men at the Champions Trophy this year, but the match went ahead, Afghanistan winning by eight runs. The Afghan women themselves did not want a boycott.

However, England have only ever met Afghanistan in ICC tournaments. Bilateral tours run the risk of providing a tacit endorsement of the opposition political regime — which was precisely why England stopped playing Zimbabwe during the time of Robert Mugabe.

Khan, left, credits Trott for raising the standards of Afghanistan’s cricket and keeping the team together despite off-field struggles ASIF HASSAN/AFP

The subject of the women’s exile in Australia and their demands — as yet unmet — for the ICC to provide them with support, are off-limits, although during the Champions Trophy, Afghanistan’s head coach Jonathan Trott volubly praised his players for their support of the women, their moral courage and their desire to grow the game in their country. Khan himself in a social media post in December spoke out strongly against the Taliban’s ban on medical education for women.

Under Trott’s supervision, Afghanistan won four matches at the most recent 50-overs World Cup, in India in 2023, including over England in Delhi, and reached the semi-finals of last year’s T20 World Cup in West Indies and the USA.

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“He has done so much for the cricket of Afghanistan,” Khan said. “He has brought the team together regardless of many issues. He kept everyone cool and together and a lot of credit goes to him for his hard work and dedication. We were talented but we needed someone like him to guide us in the right way.”

Khan picks out the World Cup win over Pakistan, and a defeat of Australia at the T20 World Cup, among his favourite matches.

Khan’s zippy leg breaks are very much in the style of his idols Afridi and Kumble PHILIP BROWN/GETTY

One of ten siblings, he spent much of his early life in Pakistan as a war refugee after 2001 and grew up idolising Shahid Afridi, whose brisk leg breaks and hard hitting are mirrored in his own style of play. He was also a fan of India’s Anil Kumble, who also bowled fast leg breaks. “I didn’t copy their actions, but that’s how I wanted to be,” he says.

Khan only got through the 2023 World Cup with the aid of pain-killing injections. He admits he aggravated his back problem by dancing the night away after Pakistan were beaten in Chennai (“We had a different level of celebration,” he said). He underwent surgery in London shortly afterwards and was laid off for four months.

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He still came back sooner than he should have done, which affected his returns at the IPL in 2024. He has been medically advised against playing much long-form cricket and concedes he felt the effects of bowling more than 50 overs in taking 11 wickets to help defeat Zimbabwe in January.

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“It’s a big decision for me, how much Test cricket I should play,” he says. “It’s not that I don’t like the format, it’s my body condition. When I was younger I had no issues. Now I have to be selective.

“I have got 650 wickets [in all T20s, a world record]. I never imagined getting so many wickets. Ten years back, I wasn’t expecting to play at international level for so long. Leading in T20 wickets is huge for me.”

He plans to play less — always for Afghanistan, but limiting his franchise cricket to only three or four leagues a year. Before heading to Kabul, he hadn’t played for almost eight weeks. He was married last year and wants to spend more time with his family in Dubai but, concerned that he had not been at his best at the IPL, he also worked on his fitness and strengthening his back. “I wanted to come to the Hundred fresh,” he added. “A fresh body is more important than another league.” He also wants to be ready for next month’s Asia Cup.

The break seems to have done him good. At Lord’s, his old zip off the pitch was back, and he consistently hit the right areas. He finished with three for 11. He was on the money again with three for 19 against Manchester Originals this weekend. As the Invincibles chase a hat-trick of titles, they have the best man possible to help them.

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