Rashid Khan reckons he is the second most popular person in Afghanistan

Young Afghanistan cricketer Rashid Khan is making giant strides in the world cricket. He is one of the most sought after properties in the limited overs cricket at the moment. He was unfortunate to have ended on the losing side in the IPL finals this season. However, a game prior to the finals, Rashid was an absolute superstar. His all round heroics against the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Qualifier 2 fetched him praises from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and even the Afghanistan President.

As per the recent quotes in Times of India, Rashid Khan exclaimed that he could not believe his eyes when he read that Sachin had hailed him as the best T20 bowler. He noted that it took him quite some time to soak in all the love that he got from the legend of the game.

“When I got into the bus, a friend sent me a screenshot of the tweet and I was shocked to see it. I was thinking for like 1-2 hours before I could eventually reply. I really didn’t know what to write, but finally I replied. The whole of Afghanistan seemed to have seen that tweet. Tendulkar is very, very famous there and everyone was surprised that he had such high praise for me. Statements like these motivate young players,” Rashid Khan quoted.

The biggest wickets of his career

At the IPL 2018, Rashid Khan bagged some very big wickets. Picking his best wickets of the tournament and his cricketing career, Rashid reckons that the wickets of AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni are the best ones of his career thus far. The reason behind this being the fact that these batsmen are excellent players of spin bowling.

“Getting rid of Virat (Kohli), AB (de Villiers) and MS Dhoni was very satisfying. In fact, I consider them the best wickets of my career so far. They are really good players of spin bowling so getting them out made it memorable for me,” Rashid noted.

On Afghanistan’s first Test

Now, the leggie is set to play in 3 T20Is against Bangladesh in India. After the T20I series, team Afghanistan will play their historic first Test against the Ajinkya Rahane-led Indian side in Bengaluru. Rashid is looking forward to the historic occasion and hopes to make it big for his team.

“It’s a big match for us as playing Tests is a dream for every cricket-playing nation. All of us who are selected for that match will consider ourselves lucky. After all, we will be making history. And, it doesn’t get bigger than the fact that we will be playing India in India,” the leggie remarked.

On his immense popularity

With such plethora of cricket action, Rashid Khan is hardly getting any time for his family. He, however, believes that he sacrifice will be worth the reward. Also, he reckons that he is the second most popular person in his country after the President.

“As far as I know, after the President of the country, maybe, I am the person who is most popular in Afghanistan,” Rashid cheekily conceded.

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