Afghanistan team should look forward to win T20 World Cup, insists Rashid Khan
Rashid Khan has insisted that the Afghanistan cricket team should be looking forward to winning the T20 world cup as the country expects them to win the title this time. He added that the team has all the qualities required to win the title and just lack in experience against the big teams.
Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan has made a name for himself due to his consistent performances in the shortest format of the game. He plays in almost every T20 league around the world and is one of the first names on the team sheet. Even in the Indian Premier League, Sunrisers Hyderabad spent big bucks for him and they haven’t been disappointed.
When it comes to the national team, Rashid doesn’t just want to play the ICC tournaments but lift the title this time. Rashid felt that Afghanistan has the talent and skills to achieve the feat and only lack of experience against the big teams.
“I think the biggest achievement (for Afghanistan) should be, right now, what the team is looking for, what the country is expecting is, to win the T20 World Cup,” Rashid said as quoted by Hindustan Times.
“We have all the skills, talent, and we just need to have that belief in ourselves that we can do it. Talent-wise we are so good, we have the spinners, we have the fast bowlers, we have the batting skills as well. But what took us down in that Test (against India) was our experience against big teams, because we didn’t play enough cricket with them.”
The nation now has a full-fledged cricket team that often challenges the top teams in the world. Rashid along with Mohammad Nabi, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, and Gulbadin Naib have made the team a fighting outfit against the biggies of the world. A little more than two years ago, in their first-ever Test outing, India beat Afghanistan by an innings and 262 runs at the Chinnaswami Stadium in Bengaluru. Recalling their maiden Test match, the Afghanistan captain revealed that it was dream come true moment for them and was a huge learning experience for them.
“The biggest dream of the whole country was to be called a Full Member team and to play a Test game,” Rashid said.
“When we were playing against you guys (India) in our first Test game, we didn’t know what we were doing. Everyone was just counting - I’m going to be the first one to hit a four, the first one to hit a six, the first one to take a single. It wasn’t the best game for us, but there were so many things we learned.”